Moritz Alphons Stübel (26 July 1835 – 10 November 1904) was a German

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Biography

He studied

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. With geologist Wilhelm Reiss (1838–1908), he conducted geological and volcanological research in the Andes—Colombia and Ecuador—from 1868 to 1874. Afterwards the two geologists continued their research in Peru and Brazil, with Reiss returning to Germany in 1876 and Stübel continuing his travels throughout the continent: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia – returning to Germany in August 1877. In South America, he also made

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

measurements and performed

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

, ethnographical,

zoological Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

, and

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

research. Scientific material collected in South America was later preserved at the Museum of Comparative Cultures in Leipzig. In addition, Stübel took numerous photographs and created sketches of the places he visited. Many of the butterflies collected by Stübel were new species. They were described by German

entomologists Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

Gustav Weymer Gustav Weymer (1833–1914) was a German entomologist. He described many new taxa of butterflies from specimens collected by Alphons Stübel in South America. His own collections and those he worked on are conserved in Museum für Naturkund ...

and Peter Maassen. Stübel also made a lesser known contribution to the study of the Middle East. In the years 1858, 1882, and 1890, he traveled mainly in Syria, Lebanon,

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, and Egypt. He collected about 600 large-size photographs on these journeys and at other occasions. This collection came via his nephew, Bruno Stübel, to the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

. They form the core of the "Alphons-Stübel Collection of Early Photographs of the Middle East 1850–1890". A digital collection of Stübel's photographs is held at the Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stubel, Alphons 1835 births 1904 deaths German entomologists 19th-century German geologists German mineralogists German naturalists German volcanologists Leipzig University alumni Scientists from Leipzig