Goeldi, Emil (Emilio) August

Emil Goeldi was born in Ennetbühl im Obertoggenburg, Switzerland, on August 28, 1859. His schooling was in Switzerland until in 1882 he entered Universität Jena in Germany and studied zoology and anatomy. After he was awarded a doctoral degree, he was offered three job possibilities overseas, and of these he chose to become a professor in Rio de Janeiro. There, he worked in the Museu Nacional under the auspices of Brazil’s emperor, Dom Pedro II. When a republic was proclaimed in 1889, he lost his job and went to live in the montane Colonia Alpina of Serra dos órgãos. Later, the new Brazilian government offered him the job of founding a new museum at the mouth of the Amazon, so in 1894 he traveled to Belém, and in a few years had built a large institution, the Museu Paraense. He began two scientific journals, the Boletím and the Memórias of that museum which became known, even in his lifetime, as Museu Goeldi. His first name is usually written in Brazil as Emilio, in keeping with...