Johan Reinhardt
Encyclopedia
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
.
Born in Rendalen
Rendalen
Rendalen is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bergset.-Name:...
parish in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, his father, Johannes Henrik Reinhardt, was a priest, and his mother, Johanne Elisabeth Mommesen, was from Holmestrand
Holmestrand
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Holmestrad. The city was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . The neighboring rural municipality of Botne was merged into the municipality of Holmestrand on 1 January...
(Norway). He was not baptized Johannes, but adopted the name later. After having been educated at home, he came to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1792 and entered the university
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
in 1793, where he passed the first 2 examinations, but after that spent almost two years at home, where he used the opportunity to study plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s and animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s. In 1796, he returned to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to study theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, but his tendencies pulled him away from this study and towards natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. He became a disciple of Martin Vahl
Martin Vahl
Martin Henrichsen Vahl was a Danish-Norwegian botanist and zoologist.He studied botany in Copenhagen and in Uppsala under Carolus Linnaeus. He edited Flora Danica fasc. XVI-XXI , Symbolæ Botanicæ I-III , Eclogæ Americanæ I-IV and Enumeratio Plantarum I-II...
, with whose help he in 1801 got the opportunity to travel abroad, where he stayed until 1806 (in the beginning a mentor for a son of the titular councillor of state J.C.C. Brun). At first, he studied mineralogy at the academy of mining in Freiberg
Freiberg, Saxony
Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Mittelsachsen district.-History:The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries...
, later primarily zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
and anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
and finally in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. During his stay there he received an appointment as an inspector for that part of the newly established Royal Museum for Natural History
University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum
The Copenhagen Zoological Museum is a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark which consist of four natural science museums.The permanent exhibition 'From pole to pole' show animals from around the world in big displays...
which was founded by acquiring the collections of the Society for Natural History
Naturhistorieselskabet
Naturhistorieselskabet - the Society for Natural History - was a private society that was the only institution to offer education in natural history in Denmark in the late 18th century. The spirit of the Age of Enlightenment and an escalating agricultural crisis, led the king and the Danish elite...
in 1805. He was just about to start as a private tutor in a German family in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, but accepted happily the post as inspector instead, although the annual salary was only 200 Rdl.
Danish rigsdaler
The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1873. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively....
, because he now felt it possible to return home without having to choose between "death from hunger or practising Law". He remained in Paris for a few months more and tried to extend his rather insufficient knowledge by studying in the museums and by following Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
's lectures, that had excited his enthusiasm. In late 1806 he returned and immediately took over the management of the collection. In 1809 he started giving lectures in the museum, and when professor J. Rathke had been transferred to Christiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, he was also employed by the university in 1813, at first as a senior lecturer and the year after as a professor extraordinarius in natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. In 1814, he married to Mette Margrethe Nicoline Hammeleff (1782-1832), a daughter of titular councillor of state N. Hammeleff and Juliane Marie Hammeleff, born Pontoppidan. In 1821, he became a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a Danish non-governmental science Academy, founded 13 November 1742 by permission of the King Christian VI, as a historical Collegium Antiquitatum...
, in 1830 ordinary professor and a member of the Academic Council; 1836 he was appointed honourable Doctor of Philosophy, and 1839 he became titular councillor of state.
In the field of herpetology
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
, from 1836 to 1863, he described many new species of reptiles and amphibians, often working together with Christian Frederik Lütken
Christian Frederik Lütken
Christian Frederik Lütken was a Danish naturalist, born 4 October 1827 in Sorø, died 1901.After a career in the Danish army until 1852, he decided to dedicate his life to natural history and left the army at the grade of first lieutenant. From 1856-1862, he was Private docent at the University of...
.