Johann Friedrich von Brandt

Who was Johann Friedrich von Brandt?

Johann Friedrich von Brandt was a German naturalist.

Brandt was born in Jüterbog and educated at a gymnasium in Wittenberg and the University of Berlin. In 1831 he was appointed director of the Zoological Department at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences, where he published in Russian. Brandt encouraged the collection of native animals, many of which were not represented in the museum. Many specimens began to arrive from the expeditions of Severtzov, Przhevalsky, Middendorff, Schrenck and Gustav Radde.

He described several birds collected by Russian explorers off the Pacific Coast of North America, including Brandt's Cormorant, Red-legged Kittiwake and Spectacled Eider. He is also commemorated in Brandt's Bat and Brandt's Hedgehog.

Brandt was also an entomologist, specialising in Coleoptera and Diplopoda. He died in Merreküll, Estonia.