Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim

Who was Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim?

Johann Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim was a German anatomist, entomologist and paleontologist.

Fischer was born as Gotthilf Fischer in Waldheim, Saxony, the son of a linen weaver. He studied medicine at Leipzig. He travelled to Vienna and Paris with his friend Alexander von Humboldt and studied under Georges Cuvier. He took up a professorship at Mainz, and then in 1804 became Demidov Professor of Natural History and Director of the Natural History Museum at the Moscow University. In August 1805 he founded the Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou.

Fischer was mainly engaged in the classification of invertebrates, the result of which was his Entomographia Imperii Rossici. He also spent time studying fossils from the area around Moscow.

Due to his work studying the insects of Russia, the Russian government granted him nobility as well as the "von Waldheim" ending to his name.