Wilhelm Michaelsen

Who was Wilhelm Michaelsen?

Wilhelm Michaelsen was a German zoologist. His principal contributions were to the study of Oligochaeta.

After finishing high school he studied mechanical engineering. He later returned to study natural sciences as a graduate student. In 1887 he commenced work at the Hamburg Zoological Museum, at first as a research assistant. He was later to become Hauptkustus.

Though he also worked in the study of Tunicates and Polychaetes, Michaelsen was best known for his work on Oligochaeta. To that end, he travelled to southern regions of South America, Africa and Australia to investigate paleographic records of ancient Oligochaete distribution.