Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz

Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (; 1 November 1793 – 7 May 1831) was a Baltic German physician, naturalist, and entomologist. He was one of the earliest scientific explorers of the Pacific region, making significant collections of flora and fauna in Alaska, California, and Hawaii.

Biography Eschscholtz was born in the Livonian city of Dorpat, then part of the Russian Empire. His parents, Johann Gottfried and Katherine Hedwig Ziegler Eschscholtz were ethnic Baltic Germans. Eschscholtz received a medical degree in 1815.

First voyage On the recommendation of Ledebour, Eschscholtz served as surgeon and naturalist on the Russian expeditionary ship Rurik under the command of Otto von Kotzebue. From 1815 to 1818 the expedition circumnavigated the globe for the purposes of seeking a Northwest Passage and exploring the lands bordering the Pacific Ocean. In addition to Eschscholtz, the scientific team included botanist Adelbert von Chamisso and artist Louis Choris.

The expedition left Kronstadt, Russia, on 30 June 1815, stopping at the Canary Islands in September and then crossing the Atlantic to Santa Catarina, Brazil. They passed Cape Horn in January 1816 and sailed north for several months to reach Kamchatka in July. From there they spent the rest of 1816 visiting the Aleutian Islands, California, and Hawaii. At each stop Eschscholtz collected specimens and recorded his observations of the local flora and fauna. Eschscholtz and Chamisso worked well together and became good friends. When Kotzebue became ill in 1817, they cut short a planned return to the Arctic and headed home, stopping again in Hawaii and then in the Philippines before ending their voyage at St. Petersburg in August 1818. He also published some of his entomological finds in Entomographien (1822). Again Eschscholtz amassed significant collections of natural history specimens, especially insects. Substantial insect collections were made in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.

Most of his collections were left to the University of Dorpat Museum and the Imperial Museum of Moscow.