Johan Christian Fabricius | |
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Johan Christian Fabricius
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Born |
Tønder, Schleswig |
7 January 1745
Died | 3 March 1808 Kiel, Holstein |
(aged 63)
Nationality | Danish |
Fields | |
Author abbrev. (botany) | J.Fabr. |
Author abbrev. (zoology) | Fabricius |
Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is considered one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century, having named nearly 10,000 species of animals, and established the basis for the modern insect classification.
Johan Christian Fabricius was born on 7 January 1745 at Tønder in the Duchy of Schleswig, where his father was a doctor. He studied at the gymnasium at Altona and entered the University of Copenhagen in 1762. Later the same year he travelled together with his friend and relative Johan Zoëga to Uppsala, where he studied under Carl Linnaeus for two years. On his return, he started work on his Systema entomologiæ, which was finally published in 1775. Throughout this time, he remained dependent on subsidies from his father, who worked as a consultant at Frederiks Hospital.
Fabricius was appointed a professor in Copenhagen in 1770, and in 1775 or 1776, the University of Kiel appointed Fabricius Professor of Natural History and Economics, promising that they would build a natural history museum and a botanical garden. Although he tried to resign three times, on one occasion only being prevented by an appeal from his students to the Danish King and Duke of Schleswig, Christian VII, Fabricius held the position at Kiel for the rest of his life.