Karl August Möbius

Karl August Möbius
Portrait by Ernst Hildebrand (1895)
Born	(1825-02-07)7 February 1825 Eilenburg, Germany
Died	26 April 1908(1908-04-26) (aged 83) Berlin, Germany
Residence	Germany
Citizenship	German
Alma mater	Humboldt University University of Halle
Known for	Biocoenosis, ecology of oysters
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology, ecology
Institutions	University of Kiel Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

Karl August Möbius (7 February 1825 in Eilenburg – 26 April 1908 in Berlin) was a German zoologist who was a pioneer in the field of ecology and a former director of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

Möbius was born in Eilenburg in Saxony. At the age of four he attended primary school at the Bergschule Eilenburg, and at the age of 12 he was sent by his father to train as a teacher. In 1844 he passed the exams with distinction and began working as teacher in Seesen, on the northwest edge of the Harz mountain range. In 1849 he began studying natural science and philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin. After he graduated, he taught zoology, botany, mineralogy, geography, physics, and chemistry at the Johanneum High School in Hamburg.

In 1863 he opened the first German sea water aquarium, in Hamburg. In 1868, shortly after passing his doctoral examination at the University of Halle, he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Kiel and the director of the Zoological Museum. Marine animals were among his main research interests and his first comprehensive work on the fauna of the Kieler Bucht already emphasized ecological aspects (Die Fauna der Kieler Bucht, co-authored by Heinrich Adolph Meyer, and published in two volumes in 1865 and 1872, respectively).