Charles De Geer

Baron Carl De Geer ( born February 10, 1720 in Finspång, † March 7, 1778 in Lövstabruk, community Tierp ) also known as Charles De Geer, was a Swedish industrialist, scientist, zoologist and entomologist.

Life

With three years Baron De Geer grew up in Utrecht on more than 19 -year-old, however, he returned to Sweden, his country of birth, back. In Lövstabruk he inherited the estate and the then very important steel forging works of his childless uncle and namesake, increasing the value of the plant considerably.

Since he had collected eight years, some silkworms, he is very interested in entomology and gradually became a respected amateur entomologist. His main work was the work of Mémoires pour servir à l' histoire des insectes that 1752-1778 was published in seven volumes ( one volume 8 was published in 1883 by Retzius ). The Mémoires describe the life history, diet, and reproduction of species in 1466 based on a careful, patient (own ) research and review of the contemporary literature. They contain 238 engravings as illustrations.

In his nomenclature of the species described, De Geer showed little progressive. Volume 1 of the Mémoires (1752 ) was published before the introduction of the binary nomenclature by his compatriot Carl Linnaeus in Volume 2 (1771 ), this is not used. In the other volumes 3-7 (1773-1778) the Linnaean system was used, but was of the species name of many types of three or more words rather than, as required in the binary system composed of two words. For many of the types previously described and named by Linnaeus suggested De Geer new name. It appears that the acquisition of the two-part system was done only under the influence of the zeitgeist without De Geer was convinced of its meaning. The differences to Linnaeus are also expressed in letters to those in which De Geer writes: "Not everyone sees things in the same light, and man has the weakness of being too much in love with one's own opinion " ( October 16, 1772 ) and " If I were to disagree here and there, so I as above please, I do not take this amiss " (23 February 1774).

Already in 1739, so as a 19- year-old Baron De Geer was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and in 1748 a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in Paris. He also was a member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala.

After his death, he was buried with his wife in the Cathedral of Uppsala. His insect collections of the Swedish Academy of Sciences were then leave, they can be today in Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (Stockholm) look. He founded in Lövstabruk a library, which among other scripts from Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630-1702) and an important collection of sheet music of the 18th century were available. This library was in 1986 taken over by the Uppsala University Library as a donation by Katarina Crafoord (daughter of Gambro - founder Holger Crafoord ).

Works

• Tal om nyttan, som Insecterne och Deras skärskådande, tilskynda oss ... Stockholm 1744-1747.
• Mémoires pour servir à l' histoire des insectes. Grefing & Hessel, Stockholm 1752-1778.
• Valley, om insecternas alstring. Stockholm, 1754.
• Essays on the history of insects. Müller & Raspe, Leipzig, Nuremberg 1776-1783 ( posthumously ).
• Genera et species insectorum. Crusium, Leipzig 1783 ( posthumously ).