Leonard Gyllenhaal

Leonard Gyllenhaal ( born December 3, 1752 Good Ribbingsberg, Älvsborgs län, Sweden, † May 13, 1840 on Good Høeberg, Skaraborg län) was a Swedish entomologist and the military.

Gyllenhaal enrolled in 1769 as a student in Uppsala and studied botany and entomology at Carl von Linné and Carl Peter Thunberg there. Economic constraints made ​​him drop out of college and choose a military career. It was in 1773 Trabant, 1777 Lieutenant and Captain in 1798 and received his discharge in 1799 as a major. He had, however, never gave up and after his retirement he devoted himself entirely to entomology, mainly in the field of beetles His scientific ambitions.

As his most important work is suecica Insecta, Coleoptera considered (Part I -III, 1808-13; Part IV, 1827). He has also written in Carl Johan Schönherr's work genera et species curculionidum a large amount of species descriptions and supported Carl Fredrik Fallén at its entomological work. From Gyllenhaal, there are still a number of smaller essays. In 1809 he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and he was a member of several foreign scientific institutions. Among other things, he was from 1832 one of four foreign honorary members at the Société entomologique de France. In 1828 he received the Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Among his descendants are his great-grandson Stephen Gyllenhaal and his two great-great grandson of the famous actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal.