Georg Forster

Georg Forster at age 26, by [[J. H. W. Tischbein]], 1781 Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster possibly chosen commemorating the family's ancestors from Yorkshire. The German form of his name is also common in English (for example, Thomas P. Saine's English-language biography is titled "Georg Forster"), which helps to distinguish him from George Forster, a contemporaneous English traveller.}} (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geographer, naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. His report of that journey, ''A Voyage Round the World'', contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, Forster, who was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of twenty-two, came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature.

After returning to continental Europe, Forster turned toward academia. He taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in the Ottoneum, Kassel (1778–84), and later at the Academy of Vilna (Vilnius University) (1784–87). In 1788, he became head librarian at the University of Mainz. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travel and exploration, including a German translation of Cook's diaries.

Forster was a central figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including his close friend Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. His ideas, travelogues and personality influenced Alexander von Humboldt, one of the great scientists of the 19th century who hailed Forster as the founder of both comparative ethnology (''Völkerkunde'') and regional geography (''Länderkunde''). When the French took control of Mainz in 1792, Forster played a leading role in the Mainz Republic, the earliest republican state in Germany. During July 1793 and while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794, not yet 40.

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Showing 1 - 20 results of 34 for search 'Forster, Georg', query time: 0.29s Refine Results
  1. 1
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1982
    Classmark: Boe2328
    Book
  2. 2
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1989
    Classmark: Boe2327
    Book
  3. 3
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1980
    Classmark: Boe2326
    Book
  4. 4
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1981
    Classmark: Boe2325
    Book
  5. 5
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1978
    Classmark: Boe2324
    Book
  6. 6
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1978
    Classmark: Boe2323
    Book
  7. 7
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1973
    Classmark: Boe2322
    Book
  8. 8
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1977
    Classmark: Boe2321
    Book
  9. 9
  10. 10
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1958
    Classmark: Boe2319
    Book
  11. 11
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1974
    Classmark: Boe2318
    Book
  12. 12
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1963
    Classmark: Boe2317
    Book
  13. 13
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1985
    Classmark: Boe2316
    Book
  14. 14
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1972
    Classmark: Boe2315
    Book
  15. 15
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1981
    Classmark: Boe2329
    Book
  16. 16
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1966
    Classmark: Boe2314
    Book
  17. 17
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1965
    Classmark: Boe2313
    Book
  18. 18
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1968
    Classmark: Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Potsdam
    Book
  19. 19
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1968
    Classmark: Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Potsdam
    Book
  20. 20
    by Forster, Georg
    Published 1970
    Classmark: Boe2311
    Book
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