Georg Forster
Also known as Johann Georg Adam Forster, G.Forst., Johann George Adam Forster
German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary (1754-1794)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 27 November 1754
- Died
- 10 January 1794
- Works
- 140
Top works
- Dissertatio inauguralis botanico-medica de plantis esculentis insularum oceani Australis
- Johann Reinhold Forster's Reise um die Welt wa hrend den Jahren 1772 bis 1775
- Ansichten Vom Niederrhein, Von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich
- Werke
- Entdeckungsreise nach Tahiti und in die Südsee 1772-1775
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Listeners · Last.fm
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- 204
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Article
Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster ( German: [ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈfɔʁstɐ]; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German-Polish geographer, naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. His report of that journey, A Voyage Round the World, contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, Forster, who was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of twenty-two, came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature.
After returning to continental Europe, Forster turned toward academia. He taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in the Ottoneum, Kassel (1778–84), and later at the Academy of Vilna (Vilnius University) (1784–87). In 1788, he became head librarian at the University of Mainz. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travel and exploration, including a German translation of Cook's diaries.
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1754 births1794 deaths18th-century German botanists18th-century German explorers18th-century German male writers18th-century German naturalists18th-century German writers18th-century German zoologists18th-century librariansAcademic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University MainzAcademic staff of Vilnius UniversityBotanists active in the Pacific