Wilhelm Bölsche
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Bölsche was a German
author, editor & publicist.
. He studied from 1883 to 1885 philosophy, art history and archaeology in Bonn
and moved 1885 to Berlin
. In Berlin-Friedrichshagen he became a central figure in the "Friedrichshagener Dichterkreis“, a poets society.
Despite that most of his work cover natural history topics Boelsche was not a naturalist but a person who popularized natural matter as a layperson to an unaware public.
Nevertheless his publishing of "Das Liebesleben in der Natur“ (The Love Life in Nature) in 1898 was the key for creating modern fact books in Germany. Boelsche also initiated with Wilhelm Schwaner (*1863 +1944) a prequel of the first German folk high school
, the “Freie Hochschule Berlin” in 1902 and was an important instigator for the “Lebensreformbewegung” (Humanistic naturalism
– key note: “Back to Nature”) in Germany. Boelsche wrote for Freie Volksbühne and edited the most important cultural history review of the day, "Freie Bühne“ (Free Stage) and popularized his free-thinking monism knowledge - especially the innovating school of Charles Darwin
and Ernst Haeckel
in dozens of self-edited books and series released by "Kosmos-Verlag“ in Stuttgart
collaborating with the Berlin artist Heinrich Harder
. He died in Schreiberhau
.
was named after him – "1998 FC127“ now bearing the name 17821 Bölsche
moving between Mars
and Jupiter
towars the sun
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
author, editor & publicist.
Life
Bölsche was born in CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. He studied from 1883 to 1885 philosophy, art history and archaeology in Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
and moved 1885 to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In Berlin-Friedrichshagen he became a central figure in the "Friedrichshagener Dichterkreis“, a poets society.
Despite that most of his work cover natural history topics Boelsche was not a naturalist but a person who popularized natural matter as a layperson to an unaware public.
Nevertheless his publishing of "Das Liebesleben in der Natur“ (The Love Life in Nature) in 1898 was the key for creating modern fact books in Germany. Boelsche also initiated with Wilhelm Schwaner (*1863 +1944) a prequel of the first German folk high school
Folk high school
Folk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
, the “Freie Hochschule Berlin” in 1902 and was an important instigator for the “Lebensreformbewegung” (Humanistic naturalism
Humanistic naturalism
Humanistic naturalism is the branch of philosophical naturalism wherein human beings are best able to control and understand the world through use of the scientific method. Concepts of spirituality, intuition, and metaphysics are not pursued because they are unfalsifiable, and therefore can never...
– key note: “Back to Nature”) in Germany. Boelsche wrote for Freie Volksbühne and edited the most important cultural history review of the day, "Freie Bühne“ (Free Stage) and popularized his free-thinking monism knowledge - especially the innovating school of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel
The "European War" became known as "The Great War", and it was not until 1920, in the book "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles à Court Repington, that the term "First World War" was used as the official name for the conflict.-Research:...
in dozens of self-edited books and series released by "Kosmos-Verlag“ in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
collaborating with the Berlin artist Heinrich Harder
Heinrich Harder
Heinrich Harder was a German artist and an art professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin....
. He died in Schreiberhau
Szklarska Poreba
Szklarska Poręba is a town in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. The town has a population of around 7,000...
.
Honours
As a compliment to his work, Boelsche was the name giver to a mountain ridge in the "Riesengebirge“ (Karkonosze Mountains), to a Berlin school (Realschule Bölsche – Oberschule), and to many streets in German towns, including the "Bölschestrasse“ in his former living district Berlin-Friedrichshagen. Even an asteroidAsteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
was named after him – "1998 FC127“ now bearing the name 17821 Bölsche
17821 Bölsche
17821 Bölsche is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1285.7315053 days .The asteroid was discovered on March 31, 1998.-References:...
moving between Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
towars the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
Work (selective)
- Paulus. Roman aus der Zeit des Kaisers Marcus Aurelius, 2 Bde., 1885
- Der Zauber des Königs Arpus, Roman, 1887
- Die naturwissenschaftlichen Grundlagen der Poesie. Prolegomena einer realistischen Ästhetik, 1887
- Heinrich Heine. Versuch einer ästhetisch-kritischen Analyse seiner Werke und seiner Weltanschauung, 1888
- Die Poesie der Großstadt, 1890
- Die Mittagsgöttin, 3 Bde., Roman, 1891
- Freireligiöse Neujahrsgedanken. Festvortrag, gehalten am 1. Januar 1893 in der Freireligiösen Gemeinde zu Berlin, 1893
- Entwicklungsgeschichte der Natur, 2 Bde., 1894-1896
- Das Liebesleben in der Natur, 1898 - 1902
- Ernst Haeckel. Ein Lebensbild, 1900
- Die Entwicklungslehre (Darwinismus), 1900
- Vom Bazillus zum Affenmenschen. Naturwissenschaftliche Plaudereien, 1900
- Goethe im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Ein Vortrag, 1900
- Hinter der Weltstadt. Friedrichshagener Gedanken zur ästhetischen Kultur, 1901
- Die Eroberung des Menschen, 1901
- Die Entwicklungslehre im 19. Jahrhundert, 1901
- Von Sonnen und Sonnenstäubchen. Kosmische Wanderungen, 1903
- Aus der Schneegrube. Gedanken zur Naturforschung, 1903
- Die Abstammung des Menschen 1904
- Weltblick. Gedanken zu Natur und Kunst, 1904
- Naturgeheimnis, 1905
- Der Sieg des Lebens, 1905
- Die Schöpfungstage. Umrisse zu einer Entwicklungsgeschichte der Natur, 1906
- Im Steinkohlenwald, 1906
- Was ist die Natur?, 1907 (Illustration: Marie Gey-Heinze)
- Auf den Spuren der tropischen Eiszeit, 1907
- Tierbuch (Illustration: Heinrich HarderHeinrich HarderHeinrich Harder was a German artist and an art professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin....
)- Bd. 1: 1908
- Bd. 2: Das Pferd und seine Geschichte, 1909
- Bd. 3: Der Hirsch und seine Geschichte, 1911
- Darwin, seine Bedeutung im Ringen um Weltanschauung und Lebenswert. 6 Aufsätze, 1909
- Der Mensch in der Tertiärzeit und im Diluvium, 1909
- Auf dem Menschenstern. Gedanken zu Natur und Kunst, 1909
- Tiere der Urwelt, 1910 (Illustration: Heinrich HarderHeinrich HarderHeinrich Harder was a German artist and an art professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin....
) - Komet und Weltuntergang, 1910
- Stunden im All, 1910
- Festländer und Meere im Wechsel der Zeiten, 1913
- Stirb und Werde! Naturwissenschaftliche und kulturelle Plaudereien, 1913
- Tierwanderungen in der Urwelt, 1914 (Illustration: Heinrich HarderHeinrich HarderHeinrich Harder was a German artist and an art professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin....
) - Von Wundern und Tieren. Neue naturwiss. Plaudereien, 1915
- Der Stammbaum der Insekten, 1916
- Schutz- und Trutzbündnisse in der Natur, 1917
- Eiszeit und Klimawechsel, 1919
- Naturphilosophische Plaudereien, 1920
- Tierseele und Menschenseele, 1924
- Erwanderte deutsche Geologie. Die Sächsische Schweiz, 1925
- Von Drachen und Zauberküsten. Abenteuer aus dem Kampf mit dem Unbekannten in der Natur, 1925
- Die Abstammung der Kunst, 1926
- Im Bernsteinwald, 1927
- Drachen. Sage und Naturwissenschaft. Eine volkstümliche Darstellung, 1929
- Der Termitenstaat. Schilderung eines geheimnisvollen Volkes, 1931
- Was muß der neue deutsche Mensch von Naturwissenschaft und Religion fordern. Vortrag, 1934
Editor
- Christoph Martin Wielands ausgewählte Werke, 4 Bde., 1902
- Novalis. Ausgewählte Werke, 3 Bde., 1903
- Des Angelus Silesius Cherubinischer Wandersmann, 1905
Literature
- Antoon Berentsen: Vom Urnebel zum Zukunftsstaat. Zum Problem der Popularisierung der Naturwissenschaften in der deutschen Literatur (1880-1910). Berlin: Oberhofer. 1986. (= Studien zu deutscher Vergangenheit und Gegenwart; 2) ISBN 3-925410-02-3
- Wolfram Hamacher: Wissenschaft, Literatur und Sinnfindung im 19. Jahrhundert. Studien zu Wilhelm Bölsche. Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann. 1993. (= Epistemata; Reihe Literaturwissenschaft; 99) ISBN 3-88479-775-1
- Rolf Lang: Wilhelm Bölsche und Friedrichshagen. Auf dem „Mußweg der Liebhaberei“. Frankfurt an der Oder: Kleist-Gedenk- u. Forschungsstätte. 1992. (= Frankfurter Buntbücher; 6)
- Rudolf Magnus: Wilhelm Bölsche - ein biographisch-kritischer Beitrag zur modernen Weltanschauung. Berlin. 1909.
- Ernst Haeckel - Wilhelm Bölsche Briefwechsel 1887-1919 Hg. Nöthlich Rosemarie Ernst-Haeckelhaus-Studien Bd. 6.1