Johann Eschscholtz

Estonian Baltic German Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (November, 1793 - May, 1831), became a Russian traveller and naturalist.

He was born in Dorpat, now Tartu, where he also died. He was naturalist and physician to Otto von Kotzebue's exploring expedition in the Pacific during 1815 - 1818. On his return he was appointed extraordinary professor of anatomy (1819) and director of the zoological museum of the university at Dorpat (1822), and in 1823 - 1826 he accompanied Kotzebue on his second voyage of discovery. He became ordinary professor of anatomy at Dorpat in 1828. Among his publications were the System der Akalephen (1829), and the Zoologischier Atlas (1829 - 1833).

Eschscholtz was the first naturalist to describe Balanoglossus which he encountered in the Marshall Islands in 1825. Kotzebue named an island in the Marshall Islands as Eschscholtz Atoll. This was renamed in 1946 as Bikini.

The botanical genus Eschsckoltzia (California Poppy) was named by Adelbert von Chamisso in his honour.

Reference

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.