Peter Forsskål | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 11 January 1732 |
| Died | 11 July 1763(1763-07-11) (aged 31) |
| Other names | Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål, Pehr Forsskåhl |
| Citizenship | Swedish |
| Education | Uppsala University,University of Göttingen |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | exploration,orientalism andnatural history |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Forssk. |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Forsskål |
Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelledPehr Forsskål,Peter Forskaol,Petrus Forskål orPehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was aSwedishexplorer,orientalist,naturalist, and anapostle of Carl Linnaeus.[1]
Forsskål was born inHelsinki, now inFinland but then a part ofSweden, where his father, the priestJohannes Forsskål [fi;sv], was serving as a Lutheran clergyman, but the family moved to Sweden in 1741 when the father was appointed to the parish ofTegelsmora inUppland and thearchdiocese of Uppsala. As was common at the time, he enrolled atUppsala University at a young age in 1742, but returned home for some time and, after studies on his own, rematriculated in Uppsala in 1751, where he completed atheological degree the same year.
In Uppsala Forsskål was one of the students ofLinnaeus, but apparently also studied with the orientalistCarl Aurivillius, whose contacts with the Göttingen orientalistJohann David Michaelis are probably the reason why Forsskål travelled to theUniversity of Göttingen in 1753; he studied Oriental languages and Philosophy and completed a doctorate there with a dissertation entitledDubia de principiis philosophiae recentioris (1756). Returning to Uppsala in 1756, he wanted to pursue studies in economics.
In November 1759, he published a political pamphlet called, in Swedish,Tankar om borgerliga friheten[2] (Thoughts on civil liberty). As it advocated completefreedom of the press, it was at the time controversial and was consequently suppressed by the authorities on the day of publication.[3] The pamphlet was censored by the "Hats" government and caused him to be warned by the Royal Chancellery.
On Michaelis's recommendation, and with Linnaeus's approval, Forsskål the next year (1760) was appointed byFrederick V of Denmark to join, amongst others, the orientalist and mathematicianCarsten Niebuhr on anexpedition to Arabia. The group first went toEgypt where they stayed for about a year, with Forsskål pursuing studies inArabicdialects, and arrived in South Arabia (Arabia Felix, present-dayYemen) at the end of December 1762. Just 31 years old, Forsskål worked hard on collecting botanical and zoological specimens, but fell ill withmalaria and died in July 1763. He was buried at night inYarim, Yemen.[4]
Linnaeus mourned the death of his young student and named one of the plants Forsskål had sent homeForsskaolea tenacissima because the plant was as stubborn and persistent as the young man had been.
The entire journey of this Danish expedition was the subject ofThorkild Hansen's first book,Det lykkelige Arabien (1962, translated into English asArabia Felix).
Forsskål's companion Niebuhr, who was the only one of the participants to survive the expedition, was entrusted with the care of editing his manuscripts, and published in 1775Descriptiones Animalium – Avium, amphiborum, insectorum, vermium quæ in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. In the same year his account of the plants of Yemen and of lower Egypt also appeared, under the title ofFlora Ægyptiaco-Arabica sive descriptiones plantarum quas per Ægyptum Inferiorem et Arabiam felicem detexit, illustravit Petrus Forskål. Most of his specimens were lost in transport or deteriorated due to bad storage inCopenhagen; hisherbarium was reconstructed some 150 years after his death by the botanistCarl Christensen.
In his taxonomy work, Forsskål assigned the local Arabic name of the fish as the Latin species name:[5] so they reflect the names used then (and now) on the coasts of the Red Sea for many species of fish.
In his pamphlet,Thoughts on Civil Liberty (1759), Forsskål argues the case for civil liberties of the kind people in modern democracies take for granted. A sample (para 21):
Finally, another important right in any free society is the liberty to contribute to the Public Good. But for this to happen, it must be possible to make the state of affairs in society known to one and all, and everyone must be free to express their thoughts about it. Where this is lacking, liberty is not worth its name.
Shortly after its publication the pamphlet was banned, and Forsskål was forced into exile. But only seven years later, in 1766, freedom of the press was given protection in Swedish constitutional law – the first such legislation in world history. (Under the reign of Gustaf III Sweden fell back into repression. Freedom of the press was reinstated in the Constitution of 1809.)
The tiger fishHydrocynus forskahlii was named in his honor byGeorges Cuvier. Forsskål originally reported this species asSalmo (=Alestes) dentex in 1775.[6]
ThesiphonophoreForskalia in the monotypic family Forskaliidae was named in his honor byKölliker.
The black sea cucumberHolothuria forskali was named in his honor byDelle Chiaje.
The plant genusForsskaolea L. was named in his honor.
Many plants also bear his name in the epithet, among which :
His name is one of those with most variants, as botanists are free to choose their latinization, and the transcription to the vowel å has varied through time.
In subsequent botanical works many different variants of his name were recorded (Forsskål, Forskål, Forskåhl, Forsskåhl, Forsskaal, Forskal, Forsskal, occasionally also Forsskaol).[7] For citing the scientist's name it was recommended not to replace å by a. Family members in these times used three alternative spellings Forsskål, Forskål and Forsskåhl. Modern members of the family seem to prefer Forsskåhl. Peter's father and brother used the spelling Forsskåhl. Peter himself alternatively used Forsskål and Forsskaal, in approximately the same frequency, but the choice depended on the language of a letter's recipient. In one letter to England he once spelled his name Forsskol.Linnæus spelled Peter's name Forskåhl,[8] not in agreement with the student's father. In publications issued during Peter's lifetime the spelling Forsskål was used, including in his dissertation issued in 1756 inGöttingen.[9]
In the important workDescriptiones animalium[10] which was published 12 years after his death and which was attributed to him[11] the spelling "Forskål" had been used. In current zoological sources both spellings Forskål and Forsskål are in use, Forskåhl and Forsskåhl are not used.[12]
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