Christian Frederik Lütken

Christian Frederik Lütken was a Danish naturalist, born 4 October 1827 in Sorø, died 1901.

After a career in the Danish army until 1852, he decided to dedicate his life to natural history and left the army at the grade of first lieutenant. From 1856-1862, he was Private docent at the University of Copenhagen and specialized in zoology. He became assistant to Japetus Steenstrup (1813–1897) at the Museum of Zoology of Copenhagen^[1].

In 1861, he published his observations of insects and vertebrates in Bidrag til Kundskab om Brasiliens Padder og Krybdyr, with Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (1816–1882). He also worked with Reinhardt in the field of herpetology, and named several new species of reptiles and amphibians.^[2]

He obtained a teaching post at the College of Advanced Technology in 1877, and, four years after leaving university, in 1885, he succeeded Steenstrup as chair of zoology. He retired in 1899 after an attack of paralysis. Hector Frederik Estrup Jungersen (1854–1917) succeeded him.

Lütken worked with insects and molluscs, but also on almost all living species, particularly echinoderms and fish. Numerous species are named after him.

He published a number of works on natural history, to great success.

He became a member of the Zoological Society of London in 1879.

Partial list of publications

• 1877 : Korte bidrag til nordisk Ichthyographi. I. Foreløbige Meddelelser om nordiske Ulkefiske (Cottoidei). Vidensk. Medd. Naturh. Foren. Kjøbenhavn 1876–1877 : 355–388, 72–98.
• 1898 : The ichthyological results. Danish Ingolf Expedition, II. Copenhagen : 215–254, Pl. 1–4.

The standard author abbreviation Lutken is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.^[3]

References

1. ^ At the time an independent institution, now part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark
2. ^ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
3. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do. 

History of science portal

Persondata
Name	Lutken, Christian Frederik
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1827
Place of birth
Date of death	1901
Place of death