Estonian Naturalists' Society (, ELUS) is the oldest
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
-based society of naturalists. It was founded in 1853, and since establishing has been the major scientific organisation focusing on
natural history
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 ...
of Estonia.
The society is based in
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
. It has been associated with
Tartu University
The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.[Estonian Academy of Sciences
Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences (, ) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn. As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to promote research and develo ...]
. The society still operates (2018) and claims to be the oldest scientific society in the Baltic states.
[History]
, Estonian Naturalists Society, retrieved 31 December 2013
The society owns a rich library that is specialised on the publications about . Society site: elus.ee.
Presidents of the Society
*
Carl Eduard von Liphardt (1853–1862)
[
* Guido Samson von Himmelstiern (1862–1868)
* Carl Johann von Seidlitz (1868–1869)
*]Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn (; – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a m ...
(1869–1876)
* Friedrich von Bidder (1877–1890)
* Johann Georg Dragendorff (1890–1893)
* Carl Schmidt (1894)
* Edmund August Friedrich Russow (1895–1897)
*Julius von Kennel
Julius von Kennel (10 June 1854 – 24 January 1939) was a German zoologist and entomologist born in Schwegenheim.
He studied at the University of Würzburg, where he came under the influence of zoologist Karl Semper (1832–1893). Later, ...
(1898–1899)
* Karl Gottfried Constantin Dehio (1899–1901)
* Grigori Levitski (1901–1905)
* Nikolai Kuznetsov (1905–1911)
* Jevgeni Shepilevski (1911–1918)
* Boris Sreznevsky (1918)
* Georg Landesen (1918–1923)
* Johannes Piiper (1923–1929)
* Paul Kogerman (1929–1936)
* Hugo Kaho (1936–1939)
* Teodor Lippmaa (1939–1942)
*Armin Öpik
Armin Aleksander Öpik (24 June 1898, in Kunda – 15 January 1983, in Canberra) was an Estonian paleontologist who spent the second half of his career (from 1948) at the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Australia.
Early life
He was born on at ...
(1944)
* Karl Orviku (1946–1952)
* Harald Haberman (1952–1954)
*Eerik Kumari
Eerik Kumari born Erik Mathias Sits (7 March 1912 – 8 January 1984) was a biologist, and pioneer of ornithology and nature conservation in Estonia. He was born in Kirbla, Lihula Parish. He was the director of the Institute of Zoology and Bo ...
(1954–1964)
* Hans-Voldemar Trass (1964–1973 and 1985–1991)
*Erast Parmasto
Erast Parmasto (28 October 1928 – 24 April 2012) was a noted Estonian mycologist, bioscientist and botanist and onetime director of the Estonian Institute of Zoology and Botany.
Parmasto was born in Nõmme. He became a member of the Estonian I ...
(1973–1976)
* Kuulo Kalamees (1976–1985)
*Kalevi Kull
Kalevi Kull (born 12 August 1952, Tartu) is a biosemiotics professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia.
He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1975. His earlier work dealt with ethology and field ecology. He has studied the mechanisms of ...
(1991–1994)
*Tõnu Möls
Tõnu Möls (12 June 1939 in Tartu – 1 December 2019 ) was an Estonian mathematician and biologist.
In 1965 he described the moth '' Epirrhoe tartuensis''.Juhani Püttsepp. 1994. Matemaatika ilu ja bioloogide probleemid. Eesti Loodus 1: 1–3. ...
(1994–2004)
* Marek Sammul (2004–2008)
* Tõnu Viik (2008–2014)
* Oive Tinn (2014–2017)
*Urmas Kõljalg
Urmas Kõljalg (born 24 February 1961) is an Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across fr ...
(2017–)
See also
* Jakob von Uexküll Centre
* Estonian Malacological Society
* Spring school on theoretical biology
References
Scientific organizations established in 1853
Biology organizations
Scientific organizations based in Estonia
1850s establishments in Estonia
Tartu
Naturalist societies
1853 establishments in the Russian Empire
{{Estonia-org-stub