Adolf Ernst

Adolf Ernst
Born 6 October 1832
Przemkow
Died 12 August 1899 (aged 66)
Caracas
Residence Venezuela
Fields Botany
Institutions Central University of Venezuela
Alma mater University of Berlin
Author abbrev. (botany) Ernst

Adolf Ernst (Primkenau, Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, (today Przemków, Poland) October 6, 1832 - Caracas, Venezuela, August 12, 1899) was a Prussian born scientist. Ernst settled in Venezuela in 1861, where he taught at the Central University of Venezuela. He became the most important scientist of the country during the second half of the 19th century and was a key figure in the creation of the Museum of Natural Science and the National Library of Venezuela, where he also served as its director.[1]

He developed an important scientific work in this country. Also, as a university professor had a marked influence on generations of scientists from the second half of Venezuelan nineteenth century.

He is regarded as the founder of the Venezuelan positivist school.

Biography

His parents were Adolf Ernst and Catalina Bischoff. He studied high school in his hometown and then enrolled at the University of Berlin where he studied natural sciences, pedagogy and modern languages. In this German institution, he met two children of Venezuelan general Judas Tadeo Piñango, with whom he struck up a warm friendship, which encouraged him to travel to Venezuela. On December 2, 1861, came to Venezuela, from Hamburg. on August 5, 1864, he married in Enriqueta Tresselt with whom he had five children.[1]

In May 1867, and completely adapted to the Venezuelan life, founded the Society of Physical and Natural Sciences of Caracas and later the National Museum in 1874. In 1876 he was director of the National Library, institution to which gave a big boost. During the government of Antonio Guzmán Blanco, participated in the organization of international exhibitions in Vienna (1873), Bremen (1874), Santiago de Chile and Philadelphia (1876). From 1874, at the request of the President, organized the chair of Natural History at the Central University of Venezuela, where he spread the theories of Lamarck and "natural selection" of Charles Darwin, which were fundamental in Zoology and Botany.

It was the inspiration and founder of positivism in Venezuela, to be among his chief disciples Lisandro Alvarado, José Gil Fortoul and Rafael Villavicencio. In 1889, the Central University of Venezuela was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in recognition of his academic work. Ernst developed a comprehensive research on botany, zoology and ethnography. He also did work on geography, geology, language, anthropology, Physics, paleontology and archeology.

Adolph Ernst carried out important studies on different regions of Venezuela, such as the Caracas valley, the Lake Maracaibo, the Andes, the Venezuelan Guayana, the island of La Orchila, the copper mines Aroa and diamond mines Betijoque. It was the precursor of ethnobotany in Venezuela to develop themes such as Historia de la Yuca (1890) and El Banano(1893). The ethnographic and archaeological collections was acquiring National Museum formed the basis for publishing a series of descriptive anthropological works of diverse indigenous groups in the country: Wayuu, ayamanes, Warao. In relation to its archaeological work, they are emphasized on the Andean region, which described particularly the lytic plaques also known as the "Batwing". It also provided ethnographic data on Andean Aboriginal and spent some trials to petroglyphs (1885-1889). One of the main merits of Adolph Ernst, was the disclosure of Venezuelan material between the international scientific societies of the nineteenth century, publishing their contributions in journals such as Globus, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, American Anthropologist and in the Bulletin de la Société du Antrhopologie Paris .

Works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Adolfo Ernst". http://www.venezuelatuya.com/'' (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 December 2014.

External links

  1. ↑ "Author Query for 'Ernst'". International Plant Names Index.