John Xantus de Vesey
János Xantus (English: John Xantus, also pseudoadlig: de Csiktapolcza or de Vesey ) ( born October 5, 1825 Csokonya, Somogy county in Hungary, † December 13, 1894 in Budapest) was a Hungarian zoologist. His scientific author abbreviation is Xantus.
Life
János Xantus came from a wealthy bourgeois family; the noble title " de Vesey " Xantus slept with itself and used different variants thereof. Xantus went to high school in Pécs and received 1841 in Győr -levels. Xantus studied at the University of Pécs 1841-1845 Law. During the March Revolution Xantus supported his compatriot Lajos Kossuth and fought as a captain in the spring of 1849 against Austrian troops under General Windisch -Graetz. As Xantus was taken prisoner, helped him the intervention of Kossuth, to escape into the supposedly safe exile in Prague. Shortly after his arrival Xantus was arrested, but was able to escape from Amsterdam to London.
From United Kingdom from 1852 Xantus went to the USA. To earn his living, he worked as a bookseller, pharmacists and teachers. But only when he volunteered as a nurse for the U.S. Army, the tide turned for the better. There, in the military, he made the acquaintance of the surgeon William Alexander Hammond, who worked as a collector for the well-known zoologist Spencer Fullerton Baird.
Under the promotion Hammonds became Xantus for assistant surgeons and was taught by this also in the natural sciences. By the time he also became a talented collector. During this time he was also companion of the Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg in its expeditions. In order to fulfill his passion for collecting better Xantus resigned his commission in the army and began to work for the State Department of the United States.
As Xantus was transferred in 1862 to the U.S. Consulate to Manzanillo (Mexico), supported him and Hammond Baird with letters of recommendation to level him as a scientist the way. The political complications to the French intervention in Mexico led to the withdrawal of all American consulates and in June 1864 Xantus returned to Hungary.
There, now rehabilitated politically and recognized as a scientist, he was entrusted with the management of the Budapest Zoo. He held until his death this office. After working several years as a consultant for the Hungarian National Museum, was summoned him there as Curator of Ethnology. From 1872 he was the first director of the Ethnographic Museum Budapest. During these years Xantus could take several large studies and collecting trips through Asia.
Dedikationsnamen
In the English language, the name of the bird Xantus 's murrelet recalls ( German: Lummenalk ) at him. He left his name to the family of night lizards and some desert plants.