Hans Christian Lyngbye

Hans Christian Lyngbye ( born June 29, 1782 Blenstrup in Aalborg / Denmark, † May 18, 1837 ) was a Danish pastor and botanist who specialized in algae. In addition, he was a friend Faroe Islands, who published the first book in the Faroese language. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Lyngb. ".

Life

Hans Christian is the son of the teacher Jens Michelsen Lyngbye. As of 1799 attended the Latin school in Aalborg after graduation in 1802 he made 1803 Philologicum and Philosophicum. He first worked as a private tutor to a priest to Vendsyssel (Thy ). He studied botany and theology, which he successfully completed in 1812. Then Lyngbye tutor was at the botanist Niels Hofman Bang (1776-1855) on Funen, which aroused the interest of algae in it. Together they traveled to Norway in 1816 to collect algae there. In the same year the University of Copenhagen announced a contest where all algae found so far in Denmark should be systematized. Lyngbye won the first prize, and his work has been submitted for publication.

First, however, it should 1817 perform a algologische travel to the Faroe Islands, so that his Hydrophytologia Danica from 1819 all algae, Norway and the Faroe Islands took account of the coasts of Denmark. This work describes, among other things 7 new genera and 50 new species and was for many decades the standard work in Denmark.

1819 Lyngbye parish priest for Gjesing and Nørager ( between Randers and Grenå ) and married in 1822, the pastor's daughter Henrietta Augusta Tileman. However, deteriorated its financial situation, so that he could only with difficulty maintained his botanical research. That changed in 1827 when he was a parish priest for Søborg and Gilleleje on the north coast of Zealand, where he found a perfect field near the sea.

When the University of Copenhagen in 1836 celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Reformation in Denmark, she praised from the doctorate for a number of well men, without that they had to defend themselves verbally. Also Lyngbye got such an invitation to write a dissertation, and so the zoological treatise Rariora Codana arose. But the messenger who was to take them to Copenhagen she forgot in his cloak, and when she emerged, the deadline had passed. He was an assurance that he still would get the doctoral degree, what happened in the autumn of the year. A year later he died from exhaustion after the effort of months earlier.

The botanical part of his treatise was published in 1879. A genus of blue-green algae, Lyngbya, is named after him.

Lyngbye and the Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands travel from 1817 proved in many ways to be extremely inspiring. So he wrote a treatise on the pilot whales and pilot whales in the Faroe Islands, for which he received a silver medal from the Danish Scientific Society already in 1818.

Most important, however Lyngbyes employment with the Faroese ballads should be. Although he had no philological expertise in Old Norse, it was nevertheless aware of the importance of these unique folk melodies. On the rainy days during his stay they were presented to him, and his interest went so far as to the necessary basic knowledge in the Faroese language acquired at Jens Christian Svabo ( 1746-1824 ). Supported Lyngbye The Office Provost Peter Mathiesen Hentze (1753-1843) and the pastor Johan Henrik Schroter (1771-1851) active in collecting such language monuments: What Svabo itself was denied, namely the publication of his collection of ballads in his lifetime, is now taking shape.

The Danish Bishop Peter Erasmus Müller (1776-1834) recognized the value of these songs and called on Lyngbye to publish it in a book. Müller made ​​for finzanzielle support from the Danish king. The result was the first book in the Faroese language: Færøske Kvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans aet of 1822, where, among other things by Schrøters orthography the Sigurdlieder were documented. Müller wrote the foreword in Danish, while the metric Danish translation of the original work of Lyngbye comes. 1822 is considered the " year zero " of Faroese literature. Since 1822 to the end of 2002 exactly 4,306 books in Faroese came out.

Lyngbye, not least because of the pioneering work in the Faroe Islands as immortal.

Works

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