Émil August Goeldi (var. Göldi, Portuguese var. Emílio Augusto Goeldi) (28 August 1859 – 5 July 1917 in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

), was a Swiss-Brazilian naturalist and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. He was the father of

Oswaldo Goeldi Oswaldo Goeldi (31 October 1895 – 16 February 1961) was a Brazilian artist and renowned engraver. He was the son of Swiss naturalist Émil Goeldi. Goeldi was born in Rio de Janeiro, but lived in Belém, in the state Pará, until he was 6 ...

, a noted Brazilian engraver and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...

Biography

Goeldi studied zoology in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

with

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new s ...

, and in 1884 he was invited by Ladislau de Souza Mello Netto, the influential director of the Brazilian Museu Imperial e Nacional, to work at that institution. Goeldi arrived in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

in 1885 to work in the National Museum (now the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro. In May 1890, he was fired, due to political circumstances related to the proclamation of the

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

and the exile of his principal benefactor, Emperor D. Pedro II. He was then invited by the governor of the state of

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

, Lauro Sodré, to reorganize the Pará Museum of Natural History and Ethnography, in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in ...

, which had been founded in 1866 by Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna. He arrived on 9 June 1894 in Belém. In his pioneering work, Goeldi was helped by several other foreign researchers, such as the Swiss botanist Jacques Huber (1867–1914), zoologist

Emilie Snethlage Maria Emilie Snethlage (April 13, 1868 – November 25, 1929) was a Germany, German-born Brazilian naturalist and ornithologist who worked on the bird fauna of the Amazon. Snethlage collected in Brazil from 1905 until her death. She was the direct ...

(1868–1929), geologists Friedrich Katzer (1861–1925), and Alexander Karl von Kraatz-Koschlau (1867–1900), and

Adolpho Ducke Adolpho Ducke (October 19, 1876 – January 5, 1959), (also referred to as Adolfo Ducke and occasionally misspelled "Duque"), was a notable entomologist, botanist and ethnographer specializing in Amazonia. According to family records, he was an et ...

(1876–1959), entomologist, ethnographer and botanist. In 1902, the Museu Paraense de História Natural e Ethnography was renamed in his honour. It is now called the

Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) is a Brazilian research institution and museum located in the city of Belém, state of Pará, Brazil. It was founded in 1866 by Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna as the Pará Museum of Natural History and Eth ...

. In 1905 Émil Goeldi renounced his post, due to ill health, and returned to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

where he died in

, in 1917, at age 58. Hüber, then Snethlage and Ducke succeeded him as general directors of the Goeldi Museum in Belém.

Contributions

Goeldi was primarily a zoologist and described many new Brazilian species of

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

and

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...

. Some of the species which bear his name are: * Goeldi's antbird - ''Myrmeciza goeldii'' * Goeldi's marmoset - ''Callimico goeldii'' * Goeldi's frog - ''Flectonotus goeldii'' Several other species were named in honour of Émil Goeldi, such as: * '' Acropyga goeldii'', '' Camponotus goeldii'', '' Azteca goeldii'', ''

Pachycondyla ''Pachycondyla'' is a ponerine genus of ants found in the Neotropics. Distribution ''Pachycondyla'' is currently distributed from southern United States to northern Argentina, but some fossil species (e.g. '' P. eocenica'' and '' P. lutzi'') ar ...

goeldii'', '' Crematogaster torosa goeldii'', ''

Mycocepurus goeldii ''Mycocepurus goeldii'' is a species of ant in the genus '' Mycocepurus''. The species is parasitised by a closely related species, '' Mycocepurus castrator''. The two diverged recently, around 37,000 years ago, and evolved in the same geograp ...

'', '' Procryptocerus goeldii'', '' Acanthoponera goeldii'', '' Brachymyrmex goeldii'', '' Dorymyrmex goeldii dubius'', ''

Paratrechina ''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and '' Zatania'') in the ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (tribe Lasiini). Six species a ...

goeldii'', '' Megalomyrmex goeldii'', '' Myrmelachista goeldii'', ''

Neivamyrmex ''Neivamyrmex'' is a genus of army ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. Range ''Neivamyrmex'' species can be found from the central United States to southern Argentina. Taxonomy As of 2021, 129 ''Neivamyrmex'' species have been identified. H ...

goeldii'', '' Solenopsis goeldii'', '' Pheidole goeldii'' and '' Cephalotes goeldii'', all species of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

n ants described by

Auguste Forel Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considere ...

; * '' Protambulyx goeldii'', a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

; * '' Dubioniscus goeldii'', a garden pillbug (

isopod Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and ...

); *'' Metazygia goeldii'', a Brazilian species of orb-weaver spider; * '' Megaelosia goeldii'' and '' Fritziana goeldii'',

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s; * '' Trichomycterus goeldii'', a pencil

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

; * '' Cynopotamus goeldii'', a

Characidae Characidae, the characids or characins is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their ...

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

; * Goeldi's pimelodid, ''Duopalatinus goeldii'', a Pimelodidae freshwater fish; * Goeldi's hemiodus, ''Hemiodus goeldii'', a Hemiodontidae freshwater fish. * '' Cheirocerus goeldii'', also a catfish; * ''

Simulium ''Simulium'' is a genus of black flies, which may transmit diseases such as onchocerciasis (river blindness). It is a large genus with several hundred species, and 41 subgenera. The flies are pool feeders. Their saliva, which contains anti ...

goeldii'', a blackfly from the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

; * ''Philodendron goeldii'', a

philodendron ''Philodendron'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. , the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 489 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second- ...

plant.

In other scientific fields

Goeldi was also recognized as an important early figure in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

and

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evi ...

in Brazil, because he studied the mechanism of transmission of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

and advocated the importance of fighting the

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

as the vector of the disease, several years before Oswaldo Cruz did so. His extensive scientific research on the

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

and socio-economical conditions of the present day region of

Amapá Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...

was very important to end the Contestado territorial litigation between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, ceding the territory to Brazil on 1 December 1900, by the international decision of the court of Bern.

Publications

* Goeldi, E. A. (1886). Bericht über zwei ältere, unbekannt gebliebene illustrierte Manuskripte portugiesisch-brasilianischer Naturforscher. I. Die zoologischen Zeichnungen von Alexander Rodriguez Ferreira. II. Die zoologischen Zeichnungen von Arruda da Camara. ''Zoologische Jahrbücher'', Jena, 2, 175-184 * Goeldi, E. A. (1892). Zur Orientierung in der Spinnenfauna Brasiliens. ''Mitteilungen aus dem Osterlande (Neue Folge)'', 5, 200-248 * Goeldi, E. A. (1897). A lenda amazônica do "cauré". ''Bol. Mus. Paraense'', 2, 430-441 * Goeldi, E. A. (1897). On the nesting of ''Cassicus persicus, Cassidrix oryzivora, Gymnomystax melanicterus'' and ''Todirostrum maculatum''. ''Ibis, 7''(3), 361-370 * Goeldi, E. A. (1898 (1897)). A lenda amazônica do "cauré". ''Bol. Mus. Paraense, 2'', 430-441 * Goeldi, E. A. (1900). Sobre a nidificação do ''Cassicus persicus'' (japim), do ''Cassidix oryzivora'' (graúna), do ''Gymnomystax melanicterus'' (aritauá) e do ''Todirostrum maculatum'' (ferreirinho). ''Bol. Mus. Para. Hist. Nat. Ethnogr., (Mus. Para.)'', 3, 203-210 * Goeldi, E. A. (1904). ''Against the destruction of white herons and red ibises on the lower Amazon, especially on the Island of Marajó''(2 ed.). Belém: Pará * Geoldi, E. A. (1905). ''Myrmecologische Mitteilung das Wachsen des Pilzgartens von ''Atta cephalotes'' betreffend''. Paper presented at the C.r. 6th Congr. Int. Zool., Berne * Goeldi, E. A. (1905). ''Beobachtungen über die erste Anlage einer neuen Kolonie von Atta cephalotes''. Paper presented at the C.r. 6th Congr. Int. Zool., Berne * Goeldi, E. A. (1905). Os mosquitos do Pará. Reunião de quatro trabalhos sobre os mosquitos indígenas, principalmente as espécies que molestam o homem. ''Mem. Museu E. Goeldi'', 4, 1-152 * Goeldi, E. A. (1908 (1909)). ''Microtrogon'' novo nome genérico proposto para ''Trogon ramonianus'' Des Murs. ''Bol. Mus. Para. Hist. Nat. Ethnogr., (Mus. Pará), 5''(1), 92-95 * Goeldi, E. A. (1911). ''Der Ameisenstaat, seine Entstehung und seine Einrichtung, die Organisation der Arbeit und die Naturwunder seines Haushaltes''. Leipzig & Berlin: Teubner

References

* Struder, T. (1917). Professor Dr. Emil August Goeldi (1859–1917). ''Verhandlungen der schweizerischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft'', Zürich 1917, 36-59 * Papavero, N. (1973). ''Essays on the history of Neotropical dipterology, with special reference to collectors (1750-1905)''. São Paulo: Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo * Cunha, O. R. (1983). Emílio Augusto Goeldi (1859–1917). ''Ciência e Cultura, 35''(12), 1965–1972

External links

"Göldi, Émil August" (in Portuguese)
(Site homepage: "Dicionário Histórico-Biográfico das Ciências da Saúde no Brasil (1832-1930). Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz" at

.
Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goeldi, Emil 1857 births 1917 deaths Swiss emigrants to Brazil Brazilian zoologists Goldi, Emil Expatriate academics in Brazil Brazilian people of Swiss descent