12 Facts About Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist.

Hermann Schlegel's father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history.

Hermann Schlegel started to work for his father, but soon tired of it.

Hermann Schlegel travelled to Vienna in 1824, where, at the university, he attended the lectures of Leopold Fitzinger and Johann Jacob Heckel.

At first Hermann Schlegel worked mainly on the reptile collection and wrote Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens, but soon his field of activity extended to other zoological groups.

Hermann Schlegel considered species as fixed, and consequently from the publication of On the Origin of Species until his death was strongly opposed to Darwin's theory.

When Temminck died at the beginning of 1858, Hermann Schlegel succeeded him as director of the natural history museum, after having spent 33 years under his direction.

Hermann Schlegel was particularly interested in Southeast Asia, and in 1857 sent his son Gustav to collect birds in China.

In 1859, Hermann Schlegel sent Heinrich Agathon Bernstein to collect birds in New Guinea.

Hermann Schlegel employed three talented illustrators: John Gerrard Keulemans, Joseph Smit and Joseph Wolf.

The end of Hermann Schlegel's life was difficult: his wife died in 1864, Finsch moved to the natural history museum at Bremen, and the collections of the British Museum started to eclipse those of Leiden.

Hermann Schlegel's sons are the sinologist and field naturalist Gustaaf Schlegel and the composer and pianist Leander Schlegel.