Alexander Gustav von Schrenk (4 February 1816 – 25 June 1876) was a Baltic German-Russian naturalist born near Tula in what was then the Russian Empire. He was a brother to zoologist Leopold von Schrenck (1826–1894).
From 1834 to 1837, he studied sciences at the University of Dorpat ( Tartu), later spending several years as an assistant at the botanical garden in St. Petersburg. He was habilitated for mineralogy at Dorpat, where from 1849 he served as a lecturer. From 1858 he spent the next ten years at his wife's manor in Pühajärve (Heiligensee), Livonia, returning to Dorpat in 1868, where he died several years later. [1] [2]
Known for his expeditions to Central Asia and northern Russia, he was the author of Reise nach dem Nordosten des europäischen Rußlands, durch die Tundren der Samojeden, zum arktischen Uralgebirge, a two-volume work involving a journey to the Arctic that was later translated into English. [1] While traveling in the historic region of Dzhungaria in Central Asia, he identified numerous new species of plants and insects. [3]
Schrenk was co-founder of the Dorpater Naturforschergesellschaft ( Tartu Naturalists' Society). [1]
The species Picea schrenkiana (Schrenk's spruce), [4] in 1841, and Tulipa schrenkii (Schrenck's tulip) are named in his honor. [5] Also in 1841, botanists Fisch. and C.A.Mey. published Schrenkia, which is a genus of flowering plants from Central Asia belonging to the family Apiaceae and named in his honour. [6]
Selected works
- Bericht über eine im jahre 1840 in die östliche Dsungarische Kirgisensteppe unternommene reise - Report on a trip undertaken in the eastern Dzungarian Kirghiz Steppe in the year 1840.
- Reise nach dem Balchasch und auf dem Tarbagatai, 1841 - Journey to the Balkhash and the Tarbagatai.
- Reise nach dem Nordosten des europäischen Rußlands, durch die Tundren der Samojeden, zum arktischen Uralgebirge, two volumes, 1848; translated into English in 1964 as "Journey to the Northeast of European Russia, through the Tundras of the Samoyeds, to the Arctic Ural Mountains".
- Orographisch-geognostische Uebersicht des Uralgebirges im hohen Norden, 1849 - Orographic- geognostic overview of the Ural Mountains in the far north.
- Sitzungsberichte der naturforscher-gesellschaft zu Dorpat in den jahren 1853 bis 1860 - Proceedings of the Dorpat naturalist society in the years 1853–1860. [7]
See also
References
- ^ a b c translated biography @ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
- ^ Kaavere, V., 1990. Alexander von Schrenk – geoloog, botaanik, luuletaja. Eesti Loodus, 6: 400–403.
- ^ JSTOR Global Plants
- ^ Encyclopedia of Life Picea schrenkiana
- ^ Tulipa schrenkii, Regel 1873.
- ^ "Schrenkia Fisch. & C.A.Mey. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ WorldCat Identities (publications)
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Schrenk.
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