- Alfred Brehm
Alfred Edmund Brehm (born
February 2 ,1829 in Unterrenthendorf, nowcalledRenthendorf ; diedNovember 11 ,1884 in Renthendorf) was a
Germanzoologist andwriter , the son ofChristian Ludwig Brehm .Through the book title "Brehms Tierleben ", his name became a synonymfor popular zoological literature.Life
Alfred Brehm was brought up in the small
Thuringia n villageUnterrenthendorf as the son of the minister Christian Ludwig Brehmand his second wife Bertha. Christian Ludwig Brehm made a name forhimself as anornithologist by publications and an extensive collectionof stuffed birds. The collection, held in the parsonage andconsisting of over 9,000 dead birds, offered a glimpse into the world ofEuropean birds. His father's research gave Brehm an interest inzoology ,but at first he wanted to become anarchitect .In the spring of 1844 he began to study with a builder inAltenburg .He continued his studies there until September 1846, when he left forDresden in order to study architecture; however, he stopped after twosemesters becauseJohann Wilhelm von Müller ,a well-known ornithologist, was looking for a companion for anAfrica n expedition. Brehm joined theexpedition onMay 31 ,1847 as a secretary and assistant to von Müller.The expedition took him toEgypt , theSudan , and the Sinai peninsula;the discoveries made were so important that, at the age of only 20,he was made a member of theGerman Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina .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 SaxoniaJena ;because of his expedition toNorth Africa , he received the nickname Pharaohfrom his corps brothers. He graduated after four semesters in 1855and in 1856 went on a two-year journey toSpain with his brotherReinhold. Afterwards he settled down inLeipzig as a freelance writer andwrote many scientific popularizations forDie Gartenlaube and othermagazines. Apart from this, he undertook an expedition toNorway and Laplandin 1860.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
Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gothato accompany him on a trip to Abyssinia. Afterwards, Brehm travelledto Africa as well as toScandinavia andSiberia . His essays andexpeditionreports from the animal world were well-received by the educated bourgeoisie;because of this, he was commissioned bythe editor of theBibliographisches Institut ,Herrmann Julius Meyer ,to write a large multivolume work on the animal world.This book became known worldwide as "Brehms Tierleben" (or, in English,"Brehm's Life of Animals".) Although Brehm's ethology is no longer seenas correct, the title of his work is still a catchphrase.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 toBerlin , where he opened anaquarium . He remained with the aquarium until 1874. In the winter of 1883 to 1884 Brehm planned a lecture tour to theUSA . Shortly before his departure, his four children contracteddiphtheria . 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 intomalaria , which he had caught in Africa in his expedition days. OnMay 11 ,1884 , he came back to Berlin. In order to find peace,he returned in July to his home town of Renthendorf, where he died onNovember 11 ,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 andHeidelberg .)
* "Gefangene Vögel", withOtto Finsch (2 vols., 1872–1876, pub. C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, Leipzig.)External links
* [http://seclin.tourisme2.free.fr/BREHM/ 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.
* (In Dutch)
* [http://projekt.gutenberg.de/autoren/brehm.htm Project Gutenberg-DE page on Brehm] (German) Includes text from "Brehms Thierleben" and "Tiergeschichten".
* [http://www.brehms-tierleben.de/ Page on Brehm] (German)
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