Alfred Brehm: biography, achievements, books and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

In Rentendorf at the beginning of February 1829, an event took place that the whole world still remembers. In the pious family of a pastor who is fond of ornithology - Christian Brehm - a son was born, in the future the world authority and love of all children in the world - Alfred Edmund Brehm. Who today does not know the results of his zoological observations, who did not hold the famous book "The Life of Animals" in their hands? Probably, there is no such person on any of the continents.

Start

Respect and mutual understanding reigned in the family, and the son's love for his father was almost limitless. Alfred Brehm willingly delved into his father's passion, therefore he began very early to substantiate his observations of the animal world. They traveled a lot around the region, around the country, and much earlier than entering the university, the young man managed to walk a lot in Africa for the first time, visit Egypt, Nubia, East Sudan.

Because Alfred Brehm continued to travel constantly, studying the fauna of Norway, Spain, Abyssinia, Lapland. His whole life was connected with the animal world. In 1863 he was appointed director of the Zoological Gardens in Hamburg, and four years later Alfred Brehm became the founder of the famous Berlin Aquarium.

Famous book

And all this time he accumulated, systematized his observations, systematically moving towards the goal set, probably, in childhood. How he wanted to have such a book, where it would be described in an accessible way - in stories, in essays, with beautiful pictures - that very almost parallel reality, so incomprehensible, so interesting!

That's why Alfred Brehm decided to write about the life of animals on his own. It is necessary that the book be understandable not only to specialists, but also to any outsider, and especially to be interesting to children. He learned so much from his travels that already in 1863 the first volume of the most famous book was published. It was called Animal Life Illustrated. And Alfred Brehm was a pioneer on this path.

Helpers

The first volume was published in Hildburgthausen, and it immediately became a bibliographic rarity. The work that has been done is truly gigantic! A detailed description of animal species in the world did not yet exist, this book was the first to appear. Alfred Brehm "Life of Animals" was able to publish thanks to assistants - Professor Tauschenberg, who prepared articles on insects and spiders, Oskar Schmidt, who developed materialsabout the lower animals. The book was illustrated by two artists, here are their works. However, Alfred Edmund Brehm himself undertook the largest part of this exceptionally voluminous work. His books continued to be published until 1869. There were six huge volumes in total.

All bird lovers had a handbook "Birds in Captivity", which Alfred Brehm compiled for four whole years, until 1876. In The Life of Animals, birds of the tree (forest birds) were described by him for that time in incredibly detailed and exceptionally reliable. However, the author turned out to be completely restless, because he considered this information insufficient. And in 1879 the second edition of this work was published - now in ten volumes, where the author revised and supplemented almost all the articles. His books were so in demand that the following expeditions were willingly sponsored by merchants and industrialists, even Russians. In 1877, Alfred Brehm studied animal life while traveling through Western Siberia and Eastern Turkestan.

Enlightenment

Unfortunately, this trip with scientific goals realized on such a large scale turned out to be the last one. For the next few years, he undertook only short trips. Including to North America, where for the most part he lectured about his observations of the flora and fauna of different continents. Do not count the universities that awarded Alfred Brehm various honorary titles, scientific societies were created everywhere that invited him to honorary membership, the first persons of statesawarded Brehm with orders. However, the famous naturalist did not even want to mention this, because he was modest and any conversation quickly turned to his favorite topic of wildlife research.

He could talk for as long as he wanted about the animals he saw, explored, tamed, about their habits, about their attitude towards humans. He spoke with exceptional eloquence, demonstrating an extraordinary mind, subtle manners, a great sense of humor, and therefore everywhere and immediately became the favorite of society. He enjoyed special love among the students: the youth adored him for the most interesting lectures, for his wit and cheerful disposition. Even outwardly Professor Alfred Brehm was beautiful: his long hair fell like a true lion's mane, his posture was just as proud and straight, and his eyes were cheerful, radiant and sky blue…

The life of Alfred Brehm

In fact, not everything and not always went well with the professor in life. Joy, recognition - yes, do not take away. But in parallel, the sorrows are just as great. In 1877, his beloved mother died, a year later - the only and best wife in the world, a tireless companion on all expeditions. And the last drop of grief - his beloved youngest son died during a trip to North America.

On one of the expeditions, Alfred Brehm caught a cold, after which he plunged into enormous labors, in which he tried to drown his grief, and all this completely upset his he alth. In November 1884, kidney disease took away the most famous naturalist from this world. Already after itdeath, Professor Pehuel-Leshe released the third edition of Animal Lives, once again supplemented and revised with the help of notes accumulated by Brem on recent trips.

Writer

Why are his books so loved by readers? They were innovative in the fullest sense of the word. In them, the strict scientific nature of the descriptions was supplemented with such details that dry science considers unnecessary, but the reader everywhere enjoys them.

In Alfred Brehm's book Animal Life, each spider has its own habits and abilities, the reader sees his "family" and "social" life, is surprised at his daily menu, relations between brothers and influence on human life. It is because of this absolutely alive, constantly moving character of each character that the reader of Brem's book has been placed in the category of the most interesting and most beloved.

In Russia

"The illustrated life of animals" was released in Russia almost immediately after the publication in Germany. Six volumes were completely translated and published in Kovalevsky's edition from 1866 to 1876. The second edition in Russia was taken from the third German edition (St. Hilaire's edition), and these ten volumes sold out still "warm" after the printing machine, so the second additional edition began immediately in 1894.

Moreover, it was printed in parallel with the next German one, from where each sheet was immediately delivered to Russia. The text was only translated, and additional processing,which would correlate with the Russian fauna, has not been done. Subsequently, what Alfred Brem did not have time to classify in Animal Lives was studied and classified. Birds (especially cranes) are the face of Russia, about the same as its birch trees. Many articles clearly required additions, although Brem also set out all this in the most complete way for those times.

How to raise children

In a few regional libraries, even today, miraculously preserved all ten volumes of this colorful edition are preserved like the apple of their eye. In Russia, the public immediately became very interested in the author of a remarkable study, and therefore articles were devoted to Brem in some journals, from which the inquisitive learned that their favorite author was born near Weimar, and his father was a fairly well-known ornithologist who corresponded with the most prominent scientists in the world. only Germany, but also France and England.

In every fairly well-to-do family where children were taught to read, Alfred Brehm's books were sure to be. These illustrations and related information aroused curiosity for knowledge, the children simply loved to explore the world around them, making, like their favorite author, more and more distant walks and hikes through the surrounding fields and forests, studying all living things that they met on their way.. They distinguished birds not only by their voice and color, they knew how certain birds nest. It was Brem who could inspire the stories of Prishvin or Bianca.

Tough choice

Of course, not everyonefrom the local children of Russia, he became a naturalist after being carried away by Brem's books. And the author himself did not immediately choose his path, because he entered after the gymnasium to study as an architect. However, you can't fool fate! A year later, one of the friends of the family invited the studiousus to join him for the summer on a trip to the Black Continent, then still almost unexplored. Brem returned from there only three years later, when all passions for architecture had ceased in his soul. How could it not be possible not to overcome the longest river of the Earth, the Nile, on a rowboat? Was it possible to stop the organization of the menagerie in Khartrum, to tame wild animals? And then endure tropical fever…

Being in Africa, how can you take this and leave it to return to architecture? The whole expedition has been in Europe for a long time, and Alfred Brehm is still in Africa. He could not leave research halfway, and therefore persuaded his older brother Oscar, and they went to places completely unexplored, to places where the foot of a European had never set foot. Oscar found his younger brother greatly changed: he spoke Arabic, wore local clothes, and the natives called him Khalil-Effendi. So they traveled for two years. And then the first real grief happened in Alfred's life - his brother Oscar drowned.

Next

Brem, of course, did not stop the expedition, although for a long time grief literally ate him up. Scientific materials were collected huge. The collection of stuffed animals and birds was so impressive that the scientist spent a long time looking for money to sendall this in Europe. And yet - a menagerie, where there were not only birds, but also live crocodiles, lions, various monkeys. When the money for the move was found, Brem donated all this to the city of Vienna, where he settled for a while. The animals were donated to the zoo, and the collections of stuffed animals, herbariums, entomological collections - to the university.

And so ended his every journey. But the most important, most significant result is, of course, books written in hot pursuit, saturated with the most vivid observations. These are "Life in the North and South", "Forest Animals", "From the Pole to the Equator", "Journey to Gabesh", "Forest (tree) birds" and many others. And how many articles in popular science magazines! That is why Alfred Brehm will forever remain the person who revealed to people all the beauty of the world around him, all its diversity. But Alfred Brehm did not write Plant Life. This, of course, turned out to be a good guide, but the name on its cover is just PR, speculation on the research of a great scientist and a wonderful writer.