Erik Laxmann

Erik Gustavovich Laxmann (Russian: Эрик (Кирилл) Густавович Лаксман) (July 27, 1737 – January 6, 1796) was a Finnish-Swedish clergyman, explorer and natural scientist born in Nyslott in Finland, then part of Sweden. He is remembered today for his taxonomic work on the fauna of Siberia and for his attempts to establish relations between Imperial Russia and Tokugawa Japan.

In 1757, Laxmann started his studies at the Academy of Åbo and was subsequently ordained a Lutheran priest in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia. In 1764, he was appointed as a preacher in a small parish in Barnaul in central Siberia, whence he undertook a number of exploratory journeys, reaching Irkutsk, Baikal, Kiakhta and the border to China. His collection of material on the fauna of Siberia made him famous in scientific circles and in 1770, he was appointed professor of chemistry and economy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1769, Laxmann was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In 1780, Laxmann settled in Irkutsk, where he would spend much of the rest of his life. In 1782, Laxmann founded a museum in Irkutsk, which is the oldest in Siberia. Laxmann also ran a glass factory in a suburb of Irkutsk, around 6 versts(24 kilometers) away from the center of the city with a famous merchant Alexander Andreyevich Baranov as a business partner; the factory was roughly 36 metres (20 ken) square. Products were not only sold domestically, but also to northeastern China.

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