| Peter Forsskål | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 January 1732 Helsinki, Finland |
| Died | July 11, 1763 (aged 31) Yemen |
| Fields | exploration, orientalist and natural history |
| Author abbreviation (botany) | Forssk. |
Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl, (11 January 1732 - 11 July 1763) was a Swedish explorer, orientalist, naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.
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Forsskål was born in Helsinki in Finland (then a part of Sweden) where his father, Johannes Forsskål, served as a clergyman at the time, but came to mainland Sweden in 1741 when the father received the parish of Tegelsmora in Uppland (and the archdiocese of Uppsala). As was common at the time, he enrolled at Uppsala University at a young age in 1742, but returned home for some time and, after studies on his own, rematriculated in Uppsala there in 1751, where he completed a theological degree the same year.
In Uppsala he was one of the students of Linnaeus, but apparently also studied with the orientalist Carl Aurivillius, whose contacts with the Göttingen orientalist Johann David Michaelis are likely to be seen as the reason Forsskål travelled to the University of Göttingen in 1753; he studied Oriental languages and Philosophy and completed a doctorate there with a dissertation entitled Dubia de principiis philosophiae recentioris (1756). Returning to Uppsala in 1756, he wanted to pursue studies in Economics. In November 1759 he published his dissertaion, a at time controversial pamphlet, Tankar om borgerliga friheten [1] (Thoughts on civil liberty) which was suppressed by the authorities on the day of publication.[2] The dissertation De libertate civili ("On civil freedom"), advocating complete freedom of print, was censored by the "Hat" government and caused him to be warned by the Royal Chancellery.
On Michaelis' recommendation, and with Linnaeus's approval, Forsskål the next year (1760) was appointed by king Frederick V of Denmark to join, amongst others, the orientalist and mathematician Carsten Niebuhr on an expedition to Arabia. The journey first went to Egypt where they stayed for about a year, with Forsskål pursuing studies in Arabic dialects, and arrived in South Arabia (Yemen or "Arabia Felix") at the end of December 1762. Just 31 years old, Forsskål worked hard on collecting botanical and zoological specimens, but fell ill with malaria and died in July 1763.
Linnaeus mourned the death of his young student and named one of the plants Forsskål had sent home Forsskaolea tenacissima because the plant was as stubborn and persistent as the young Finn had been.
His companion Niebuhr, who was the only one of the participants to survive the expedition, was entrusted with the care of editing his manuscripts, and published in 1775 Descriptiones Animalium - Avium, amphiborum, insectorum, vermium quæ in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. In the same year his account of the plants of Yemen and of lower Egypt also appeared, under the title of Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabica sive descriptiones plantarum quas per Ægyptum Inferiorem et Arabiam felicem detexit, illustravit Petrus Forskål. Most of his specimens were lost in transport or deteriorated due to bad storage in Copenhagen; his herbarium was reconstructed some 150 years after his death by the botanist Carl Christensen.
In subsequent botanical works many different variants of his name were recorded (Forsskål, Forskål, Forskåhl, Forsskåhl, Forsskaal, Forskal, Forsskal, occasionally also Forsskaol).[3] For citing the scientist's name it was recommended not to replace å by a. Family members in these times used three alternative spellings Forsskål, Forskål and Forsskåhl. Modern members of the family seem to prefer Forsskåhl. Peter's father and brother used the spelling Forsskåhl. Peter himself alternatively used Forsskål and Forsskaal, in approximately the same frequency, but the choice depended on the language of a letter's recipient. In one letter to England he once spelled his name Forsskol. Carl Linnæus spelled Peter's name Forskåhl,[4] not in agreement with the student's father. In publications issed during Peter's lifetime the spelling Forsskål was used, including in his dissertation issued in 1756 in Göttingen.[5]
In the important work Descriptiones animalium[6] which was published 12 years after his death and which was attributed to him[7] the spelling "Forskål" had been used. In current zoological sources both spellings Forskål and Forsskål are in use, Forskåhl and Forsskåhl are not used.[8]