Georg Thilenius

Georg Christian Thilenius (October 4, 1868 - December 28, 1937) was a German physician and anthropologist who was a native of Soden am Taunus. He studied medicine in Bonn and Berlin, and in 1896 was habilitated as an anatomist at the University of Strasbourg. In 1900 he became a professor of anthropology and ethnology at the University of Breslau, and in 1904 became director of the Museum of Ethnography in Hamburg, a position he maintained until 1935.

As director of the Hamburg Museum of Ethnography, Thilenius coordinated the 1908-1910 "Südsee-Expedition", which was a scientific expedition to German administered territories in Micronesia and Melanesia. Members of the research group included Friedrich Fülleborn (1866-1933), Otto Reche (1879-1966) and Wilhelm Müller-Wismar (1881-1916). Over 15,000 objects and artifacts from the South Pacific were brought back to Hamburg, as well as scientific data that eventually numbered to 23 volumes.

Selected writings

* "Ergebnisse der Südsee-Expedition 1908 - 1910" (Results of the South Seas Expedition 1908 - 1910), Hamburg 1927
* "Das Hamburgische Museum für Völkerkunde" (The Hamburg Museum of Ethnology), Berlin 1916
* "Die Bedeutung der Meeresströmungen für die Besiedelung Melanesiens" (The importance of Ocean Currents for the settlement of Melanesia) Hamburg 1906

References

* "This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia."