Alexander von Middendorff
Alexander von Middendorff | |
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St Petersburg Academy of Sciences |
Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (
Early life
Middendorff's mother Sophia Johanson (1782–1868), the daughter of an Estonian farmer, had been sent to Saint Petersburg for education by her parents. There she met with the future director of the
Education
Middendorff received his early education from tutors in
Explorer and scientist
In 1839, under the patronage of
In the summer of 1840, Baer asked Middendorff to join his second expedition to
Baer suggested Middendorff to the
Baer's expedition instructions had the German title „Materialien zur Kenntniss des unvergänglichen Boden-Eises in Sibirien“ (=materials for the knowledge of the perennial ground ice in Siberia). Although print-ready in 1943, the text remained lost for more than 150 years. Thus in 2001 the discovery and annotated publication of the typescript in the library archives of the University of Giessen was a scientific sensation. The full text of the expedition instructions is available online (234 pages).[6] The editor Lorenz King added to the facsimile reprint a preface in English, two colour permafrost maps of Eurasia. The text is introduced with detailed comments and references on additional 66 pages written by the Estonian historian Erki Tammiksaar.
In 1870 Middendorff visited the Baraba steppe and in 1878 the Fergana Valley.
Personal life and death
Middendorf was married to Hedwig. His son Ernst von Middendorff was also an ornithologist.
Middendorf died in 1894 at Hellenorm, Kreis Dorpat, in Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (now Valga County, Estonia).
Legacy
Middendorff's grasshopper warbler, Cape Middendorff of Novaya Zemlya, Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), and Middendorff Bay of the Taymyr Peninsula are named after him. He coined the term aufeis.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-543-98710-5. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- preposition which approximately means of or from and usually denotes some sort of nobility. While von (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by his last name, use Schiller, Clausewitz or Goethe, not von Schiller, etc.
- ISBN 9781105530036. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
- ^ Academic Middendorff and Estonians. Eesti Ekspress., 08.29.2005 (in Estonian)
- ^ "Author details for Alexander Theodorowitsch middendorff". IPNI. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
- ^ King, Lorenz (2001). "Materialien zur Kenntniss des unvergänglichen Boden-Eises in Sibirien, compiled by Baer in 1843" (PDF). Berichte und Arbeiten aus der Universitätsbibliothek und dem Universitätsarchiv Giessen (in German). 51: 1–315. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Middend.
Further reading
- E. Tammiksaar, I. Stone, "Alexander von Middendorff and his expedition to Siberia (1842–1845)", Polar Record 43 (226): 193–216 (2007)
- Barbara and Richard Mearns, Audubon to Xantus, The Lives of Those Commemorated in North American Bird Names, ISBN 0-12-487423-1