author
Adolf Bernhard Meyer
1840–1911
A nineteenth-century German naturalist and museum director, he moved easily between anthropology, zoology, and ethnology. His work took him from European museums to the islands of Southeast Asia, where he collected and studied both wildlife and cultures.
1 Audiobook
Säugethiere vom Celebes- und Philippinen-Archipel
by Adolf Bernhard Meyer
About the author
Born in Hamburg on October 11, 1840, Adolf Bernhard Meyer became known as a remarkably wide-ranging scholar: anthropologist, ornithologist, entomologist, herpetologist, and museum leader. He studied medicine and the natural sciences, then built a career that crossed several fields at a time, which was more common in his era than it is today.
Meyer traveled extensively, including major research trips in the Dutch East Indies, especially Sulawesi and nearby islands, where he gathered zoological and ethnographic material and published studies based on his findings. He later served for nearly thirty years as director of the Royal Zoological and Anthropological-Ethnographical Museum in Dresden, helping shape its scientific collections and public importance.
Remembered today for both his research and his collecting work, Meyer belonged to the generation of scholars who helped expand European knowledge of global biodiversity and human cultures, even as that work was tied to the museum practices of the nineteenth century. He died in 1911, leaving behind a legacy spread across natural history, anthropology, and museum science.