Wilhelm Peters

Wilhelm Carl Hartwig Peters ( born April 22, 1815 in Koldenbüttel, Duchy of Schleswig, † April 20, 1883 in Berlin) was a German naturalist, zoologist, anatomist and discoverer.

Life

The son of a pastor in 1834 studied medicine and natural history, first at the University of Copenhagen, then at the Friedrich- Wilhelms- University of Berlin. After receiving his doctorate in 1838 he undertook a 18-month research trip with Henri Milne Edwards by the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

After his return to Berlin, he became an assistant to Johannes Peter Müller, a German physiologist and marine biologist. Under enthusiastic support Müller and Alexander von Humboldt, he developed plans for a large-scale research trip to Africa. In September 1842, he first traveled to Angola in June 1843, he came at the very end of his journey - the inland Mozambique - on. In addition to these countries, he also traveled to Zanzibar during his four-year stay in Africa, the Comoros and Madagascar. In South Africa he recovered from an associated early in the expedition disease. In 1847 he traveled - via India and Egypt - with a large collection of newly discovered species back to Berlin. Results of his research he published in four volumes under the title Natural Sciences trip to Mossambique.

In 1847 he became prosector at the anatomical institute of the University of Berlin, in 1849 associate professor there. In 1856 he became assistant to the director of the Zoological Museum of the University, Martin Hinrich Lichtenstein, and took over after his death in 1857 the Office of the Director. Under his leadership, the collection increased significantly ( as the collection of reptiles of 3,700 grew to 10,500 copies to ) and was alongside those of Paris and London as one of the most important in the world. Also in the position of Director of the Zoological Gardens of Berlin followed Peters on Lichtenstein. He was from 1857 to 1869 director of the zoo.

Since 1858, he taught zoology and won some influence on the zoological research. Peters, of Darwin's achievements recognized, the Darwinian theory of evolution still faced more neutral, united in his works anatomical and zoological researches and published nearly 400 articles on a wide variety of animal species. 1860 Peters was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

William Peters was a brother of the astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters.

Works

  • Observationes ad anatomiam Cheloniorum, Dissertation, Berlin 1838
  • Scientific trip to Mossambique, executed on the orders of His Majesty King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in the years 1842-1848, Berlin 1852-1868 sa http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2008/10222/ or as Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf Botany Abth. 1 1862
  • Botany Abth. 2 1864
  • Zoology 1 quadrupeds. 1852
  • Zoology 2 birds. 1883
  • Zoology 3 amphibians. 1882
  • Zoology 4 Fresh-water fish. 1868
  • Zoology 5th insects and myriapods. 1862
Anatomy Physiology Berlin Zoological Garden Charles Darwin Julius Victor Carus Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Neue Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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