Gundlach, Johannes (Juan) Christopher

Johannes Gundlach was born in Marburg, Germany, on July 17, 1810. His father, a university professor there, died young, leaving his widow and their five children with inadequate income. Johannes became interested in natural history, and began to collect birds by shooting them in preparation for taxidermy. An early accident with a gun left him with an injured palate and nose, and loss of his senses of smell and taste. His mother wanted him to study religion, and he began to do so, but he obtained a job as conservator of the university museum and put aside his religious training to study zoology. He obtained free tuition as son of a faculty member, a master of arts degree in 1837, and a doctorate in philosophy in 1838. He was offered accommodation in Surinam by a friend who was a military doctor there, and began to seek funding for his trip, the funds to be repaid by the sale of specimens collected. While organizing this funding, he spent six months studying specimens in the zoological...