János Salamon Petényi, Johann Salomon von Petényi or Ján Šalamún Petian (30 July 1799 – 5 October 1855) was a Hungarian priest who took an interest in zoology, travelling, collecting specimens, and contributing to ornithology, speleology, and paleontology. He is considered the father of Hungarian ornithology.

Life and work

Petényi was born in Ábelfalva, Nógrád megye where his father was Lutheran pastor Gábor Petényi who was known for his work in orientalism. Schooled in Losonc and Selmec he took an interest in collecting objects of natural history. He also influenced Agoston Kubinyi. He followed the family tradition to become a pastor, studying in Bratislava and Vienna while also attending the botanical lectures of

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...

, meeting

Johann Jakob Heckel Johann Jakob Heckel (23 January 1790 – 1 March 1857) was an Austrian taxidermist, zoology, zoologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist from Mannheim in the Electoral Palatinate. He worked at the Royal natural history cabinet in Vienna which later ...

and

Johann Natterer Johann Natterer (9 November 1787 – 17 June 1843) was an Austrian natural history, naturalist and List of explorers, explorer. He was the son of royal falconer Joseph Natterer and along with his brother Joseph Natterer (1786–1852) took a keen i ...

from whom he learned taxidermy and specimen preparation. He corresponded with

Christian Ludwig Brehm Christian Ludwig Brehm (24 January 1787 – 23 June 1864) was a German pastor and Ornithology, ornithologist. He was the father of the Zoology, zoologist Alfred Brehm. Life Brehm was born in Schönau (Odenwald), Schönau near Gotha on 24 Ja ...

and

Johann Friedrich Naumann Johann Friedrich Naumann (14 February 1780 – 15 August 1857) was a German scientist, engraver, and editor. He is regarded as the founder of scientific ornithology in Europe. He published ''The Natural History of German Birds'' (1820–1844) ...

and in 1826 became a pastor in Czinkota. In 1833 he moved to Pest and in 1834 he became curator of the zoological collections at the Hungarian National Museum. Around 1840

Gustav Hartlaub Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (8 November 1814 – 29 November 1900) was a German physician and ornithologist. Hartlaub was born in Bremen, and studied at Bonn and Berlin before graduating in medicine at Göttingen. In 1840, he began to study and ...

visited Petényi and for unknown reasons Hartlaub developed a dislike for Petényi. In 1847 he examined fossilized remains in the

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

of Beremend. He also examined caves in the

Bihor Mountains Bihor Mountains (, ) is a mountain range in western Romania. It is part of the Apuseni Mountains, which are part of the Carpathian Mountains. The massif has a length of from the northwest to the southeast and a width of . It is located east of ...

. He was elected to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1846. Accidental absorption and toxicity from arsenic soap used as a preservative in his taxidermy work led to his early death. His main work on birds was completed and translated to German from his manuscripts by Titus Csörgey with a biographical preface by Otto Herman.

Eponymy

Many species of fossil and extant animals have been named after him including: *'' Prodeinotherium petenyii'', *The Romanian barbel fish '' Barbus petenyi'', *'' Villanyia petenyii'', and *The extinct Vole, '' Mimomys petenyii''.

References

External links

* ''Ornithologische Fragmente Aus Den Handschriften Von Johann Salamon Von Petenyi'' (1905) {{DEFAULTSORT:Petényi, János Salamon 1799 births 1855 deaths 19th-century Hungarian zoologists Deaths by arsenic poisoning