Richard Böhm (1 October 1854 − 27 March 1884)[1] was a German zoologist and explorer.

Richard Böhm
Rich ard Boom
Born1854 October 1
Died1884 March 27 (aged 29)
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Zoologist and Explorer
Years active1877 - 1884
Known forOrnithology

Life

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Richard Böhm was the son of Ludwig Böhm, a prominent Physician and Franziska Louise (born Franziska Meyerlinck).[2] As a child, he received a copy of Brehms Tierleben for Christmas, which "became a source of unimagined pleasure" for the young Böhm.[3] He studied zoology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena with the Darwinist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and attained a doctorate in 1877. His dissertation was on Helgoland leptomeduses.[2] In April 1880, he and Paul Reichard went on an expedition to Zanzibar and then, in East Africa, the east bank of Lake Tanganyika and the southeast of Lake Upemba,[2] which he discovered. His correspondence appeared in 1888 under the title Ostafrika, Sansibar und Tanganjika heraus: Von Sansibar zum Tanganjika, Briefe aus Ostafrika von Dr. Richard Böhm (J. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1888 Ed. Herman Schalow). Böhm wrote numerous articles in the Journal of Ornithology from 1882 to 1887.[4] He was one of the first zoologists to research the animals between the East-African steppe and West-African forest and discovered numerous new species of birds.[2] He died of an attack of malaria.

Species Named After Böhm

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Anton Reichenow (1847–1941) and Herman Schalow (1852–1925) dedicated bird species to him.

 
Merops boehmi (Boehm's Bee-eater)

References

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  1. ^ Beolens, Bo (2003). Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300103595.
  2. ^ a b c d Biographie, Deutsche. "Böhm, Richard - Deutsche Biographie". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-10-17.
  3. ^ Böhm, Richard (1888). Von Sansibar zum Tanganjika : Briefe aus Ostafrika nach dem Tode des Reisenden. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus AG. pp. IX.
  4. ^ World Who's Who in Science: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. June 1, 1968. ISBN 978-0837910017.