Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

Born on 11 May 1752, Blumenbach was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist. He spent much of his career at the University of Göttingen and became known as one of the first scholars to study human beings as part of natural history.

He wrote on anatomy, comparative biology, and human diversity, and his collections and lectures made Göttingen an important center for research. Blumenbach is often remembered for arguing for the unity of humankind while also proposing a classification of human groups that had a long and complicated afterlife in the history of race science.

He died on 22 January 1840. Today, he is seen as a major figure in the development of anthropology and natural history, as well as a reminder that influential scientific ideas can leave a mixed legacy.