- Johann Reinhold Forster
Johann Reinhold Forster (
October 22 ,1729 –December 9 ,1798 ) was a German naturalist of partial Scottish descent who made contributions to the earlyornithology ofEurope andNorth America . He is best known as the naturalist onJames Cook 's second Pacific voyage, when he was accompanied by his sonGeorg Forster .Biography
Forster's family originated in the Lords Forrester in
Scotland from where his great-grandfather had emigrated after losing most of his property during the rule ofOliver Cromwell along with many other Scots. Forster himself was born in the city of Dirschau (Tczew) in the Polish province ofRoyal Prussia . He studied theology at theUniversity of Halle , afterwards serving as a Lutheran pastor in Nassenhuben (Mokry Dwór), where his son Georg was born. In 1766 he traveled toEngland with Georg (the eldest of eight children, seven of which survived childhood). He spent three years teaching at the Dissenter's Academy inWarrington , succeedingJoseph Priestley . Forster then moved toLondon , where he became known as a natural historian. WhenJoseph Banks withdrew at the last moment as naturalist on Cook's second voyage, Forster and his son were appointed to fill the vacant position. In July 1772 they set sail on the "Resolution", returning to England in July 1775. During a stop inCape Town , Forster engagedAnders Sparrman to act as his assistant.Both the Forsters kept detailed diaries of everything they saw on the voyage, and made extensive collections of both natural history specimens and artifacts. On his return Forster published "Observations Made during a Voyage round the World" (1778). However the income from the book was insufficient to clear his debts, and the bulk of Georg's drawings from the voyage had to be sold to Joseph Banks. During the next few years Forster undertook a variety of writing work, including a German translation of
Thomas Pennant 's "Arctic Zoology".In November 1779 Forster was appointed
Professor of Natural History andMineralogy at theUniversity of Halle , where he remained until his death. His "Descriptiones animalium", completed within a month of returning to England with Cook, was eventually edited byHinrich Lichtenstein and published in 1844.Forster's Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1772–73) on zoology, ornithology, and ichthyology established him as one of the earliest authorities on North American zoology.
External links
* [http://dz-srv1.sub.uni-goettingen.de/cache/toc/D269449.html Scans of "Specimen Historiae Naturalis Volgensis"] at the
Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010371b.htm Biography] at theAustralian Dictionary of Biography
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