Wilhelm Hemprich

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Wilhelm Hemprich
Born(1796-06-24)24 June 1796
University of Berlin
Known forGrundriss der Naturgeschichte
Scientific career
FieldsNaturalist, explorer
Author abbrev. (botany)Hemprich
Author abbrev. (zoology)Hemprich

Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich (24 June 1796 – 30 June 1825) was a German naturalist and explorer.

Hemprich was born in

Breslau and Berlin. It was in Berlin that he became friends with Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
, the two men sharing an interest in natural history. Hemprich lectured at
Berlin University on comparative physiology, and wrote Grundriss der Naturgeschichte (Compendium of Natural History) (1820). In his spare time he studied reptiles and amphibians at the zoological museum under Hinrich Lichtenstein
.

In 1820 Hemprich and Ehrenberg were invited to serve as naturalists on a primarily archeological expedition to Egypt, led by Prussian General von Minutoli. The two naturalists were sponsored by the Berlin Academy. In March 1821 they separated from the main party and travelled up the river Nile to Dongola, the capital of Nubia. They spent the next two years studying the natural history of that part of Egypt.

In 1823 Hemprich and Ehrenberg sailed across the Gulf of Suez to El Tur on the south-west coast of the Sinai peninsula, remaining there for nine months. During this time they visited Mount Sinai, and Ehrenberg became one of the first naturalists to study the marine life of the Red Sea. In 1824 they visited the Lebanon, travelling inland from Beirut to the summit of the Jebel Liban and making their base at Bcharre. In August they returned to Egypt.

In November they set off again along the coasts of the Red Sea, calling at various ports including

Museum für Naturkunde
Berlin: they included 46,000 botanical specimens of 3000 species and 34,000 animal specimens of 4000 species. These included many new species.

Hemprich is commemorated in the names of the sooty gull (Larus hemprichii ), Hemprich's hornbill (Tockus hemprichii), and the fossil amber pseudoscorpion (Pseudogarypus hemprichii). He is also commemorated in the names of two reptiles: Hemprich's skink (Scincus hemprichii) and Hemprich's coral snake (Micrurus hemprichii).[1]

The standard author abbreviation Hemprich is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[2]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . ("Hemprich", pp. 120-121).
  2. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Hemprich.

Further reading

  • Baker DB (1997). "C.G. Ehrenberg and W.F. Hemprich's Travels, 1820–1825, and the Insecta of the Symbolae Physicae ". Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 44 (2): 165–202.
  • Mearns, Barbara; Mearns, Richard (1988). Biographies for Birdwatchers: The Lives of Those Commemorated in West Palearctic Bird Names. Waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press. 464 pp.
    ISBN 0-12-487422-3
    .
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