Alfred Brehm
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Alfred Brehm | |
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German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina | |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Zoological Garden of Hamburg |
Author abbrev. (zoology) | A.E. Brehm |
Alfred Edmund Brehm (German pronunciation:
Through the book title Brehms Tierleben, which he co-authored with Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, Wilhelm Haacke, and Richard Schmidtlein, his name became a household word for popular zoological literature.
Early life
Alfred Brehm grew up in the small
Career
After his return, in 1853 he started to study natural sciences at the University of Jena. Like his brother Reinhold, he became active with the student corps Saxonia Jena; because of his expedition to North Africa, he received the nickname Pharaoh from his corps brothers. He graduated after four semesters in 1855 and in 1856 went on a two-year journey to Spain with his brother Reinhold. Afterwards he settled down in Leipzig as a freelance writer and wrote many essays in the service of science popularization for Die Gartenlaube and other magazines. Soon, Brehm became one of Germany's most popular naturalists and science writers, focusing on zoological themes.[1]
Apart from this, he undertook an expedition to
In May 1861 Brehm married his cousin Mathilde Reiz, with whom he had five children. Since he wanted to travel, in 1862 he accepted the invitation of
Brehm's life was full with writing, scientific expeditions and lecture tours. Despite this, in 1862, he accepted the post of first director of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg and kept this position until 1867. Afterwards he went to Berlin, where he opened an aquarium. He remained with the aquarium until 1874. In the winter of 1883 to 1884 Brehm planned a lecture tour to the US. Shortly before his departure, his four children contracted diphtheria. Since he could not afford to break his contract, Brehm, a widower since 1878, went ahead with his tour. At the end of January he received word of his youngest son's death. After the hardship of this news Brehm relapsed into malaria, which he had caught in Africa in his expedition days. On 11 May 1884, he came back to Berlin. In order to find peace, he returned in July to his home town of Renthendorf, where he died on 11 November 1884. Today, the Brehm Memorial Museum is located there.
Selected publications
- Brehms Tierleben (English title: Brehm's Life of Animals.) See the article on Brehms Tierleben for its editions, titles and availability of online text.
- Reiseskizzen aus Nord-Ost-Afrika (1855, 3 vols., pub. Friedrich Mauke, Jena.)
- Das Leben der Vögel (pub. C. Flemming, Glogau, 1861; second edition 1867.)
- Ergebnisse einer Reise nach Habesch (1863, pub. O. Meissner, Hamburg.)
- Die Thiere des Waldes, with Emil Adolf Rossmässler (2 vols., 1864–1867, pub. C. F. Winter, Leipzig and Heidelberg.)
- Gefangene Vögel, with Otto Finsch (2 vols., 1872–1876, pub. C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, Leipzig.)
- (wild life and scenes in many places)
References
Further reading
- ISBN 3-486-56337-8, 2nd. edition 2002, including a short biography.
External links
- Entomologie Vieux livres A. E. Brehm (French) Information on and table of contents from the work Merveilles de la nature: les insectes, A. E. Brehm, tr. J. Künckel d'Herculais.
- Works by Alfred Brehm at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Alfred Edmund Brehm at Internet Archive
- Works by Alfred Brehm at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Project Gutenberg-DE page on Brehm (German) Includes text from Brehms Thierleben and Tiergeschichten.
- Website advertising the Brehm Memorial Center in Renthendorf, a museum in the former home of Alfred Brehm and his family
- Source for digitized autographs and transcripts of Alfred Brehm (in German).