22
The Bulletin
G
eorg Wilhelm Steller was born
Georg Whilhelm Stöller on
March 10, 1709 in Windsheim,
Germany.
1
His father was the cantor in
the principal Lutheran church in the
area and the music teacher in the village
Latin school, where Steller got his early
education. He was a good student, sang in
the school choir and was able to advance to
the school’s upper level, or gymnasium. To
help with family finances, Steller worked
part time in the town library.
At an early age, he became interested in
the local flora and fauna and spent every
spare moment in the nearby Schutzbach
Forest. By the time Steller graduated from
the Latin school, he was considered the
local expert naturalist.
At age 20, he received a scholarship
to study religion and medicine at the
University of Wittenberg. With his move
to Wittenberg, he seems to have severed
all contact with his parents. He did,
however, keep up some contact with his
brother Augustin, who practiced medicine
in Köthen. It is not clear how long Steller
studied at Wittenberg, but he remained
there long enough to receive both his MD
and certification as a Lutheran minister.
He then moved to the University of
Halle to study natural history.
2
There,
he supported himself by teaching and
supervising a dormitory. He studied
zoology under Professor Johann Friedrich
Cassebohm, the foremost zoologist
in Germany at the time and a strong
advocate of the use of the microscope in
natural history.
On the strength of his work at Halle,
Steller was given a teaching appointment at
the Francke Foundation.
3
Steller took full
advantage of the contacts he made as part
of this prestigious institution and made
full use of the foundation’s acclaimed
natural history exhibits. Most sources
suggest that this is where Steller met
Johann Georg Gmelin, who was the same
age as Steller and had a similar educational
background. He had developed a national
reputation as a naturalist. Gmelin visited
the foundation on his way to assume a
professorship in Russia.
Even though there was a certain amount
of prestige with his appointment to the
Francke Foundation, Steller yearned for
a university professorship. Unfortunately,
there was a surplus of talented well trained
people in Germany, and it would be years
before he would even be considered for
such a position.
After his contact with Gmelin, Steller
began exploring the possibility of
obtaining a professorship for himself in
Russia. He began corresponding with the
newly created Russian Imperial Academy
of Sciences.
Finally, in 1733, Steller learned that the
Imperial Academy of Sciences had named
Gmelin as the naturalist for the second
4
Kamchatka expedition.
5
Vitus Jonassen
Bering was to head the expedition again,
and his two loyal captains from the first
expedition were to be his second and third
in command, Captain Martin Spanberg
and Captain Aleksi Chirikov.
Spanberg and the advance party left for
Siberia in February 1733. The main party,
The Stellar
Accomplishments of
Georg Wilhelm Steller
From the Steller sea lion to the Steller’s jay,
this physician and naturalist made many
contributions to our region’s natural history.
By Fillmore Buckner, MD
1. Near Neurenberg.
2. The Universities of Wittenberg and Halle have now combined into a single institution.
3. Francke Foundation was founded in 1695 as a charity school and orphanage by August Hermann Francke, a
former professor at Halle, and it evolved into a Christian social and educational institution. It has persisted to
the present day and now operates in numerous locations in Germany.
4. In 1725, Peter the Great commissioned Bering, a Danish captain in the Russian Navy to go to the east coast of
Siberia, explore the Kamchatka Peninsula and determine if Siberia was attached to North America. In 1730,
Bering returned to St. Petersburg and reported that Siberia was not connected to North America. The Imperial
Academy of Sciences scholars were convinced there was a connection, however, and they doubted Bering’s
report. A second expedition was ordered with Bering to establish trade routes to Japan. There were also
charges to explore rivers and set up a postal service. The charge and scope of the expedition were ponderous.
5. The academy had also named Gerhard Friedrich Muller as historian and Louis de L’isle de la Croyere as
Astronomer. Each brought with him an assistant and several students.
historical
