Wilhelm Gottlob Tilesius von Tilenau

Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau (17 July 1769 – 17 May 1857) was a German naturalist and explorer, medical doctor, draftsman and engraver. He was a member of the Order of St. Vladimir and of the Legion of Honour.

Early life and education Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius was born in Mühlhausen (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) on 17 July 1769. His father was a merchant and actuary and his mother the daughter and sister of surgeons. It was his mother's brother who introduced the young Tilesius to the natural sciences and drawing. (Tilesius made one notable error in this effort, exchanging the tusks so that they diverged instead of converged. )

In 1814, Tilesius returned from Russia to his hometown of Mühlhausen and put his son in the care of his grandmother. He continued to lecture and publish on zoological, medical and ethnographic subjects, and attained membership in a number of scientific societies across Europe and in the United States, but did not obtain another academic position. He spent most of the rest of his life in Mühlhausen and Leipzig, and died in Mühlhausen (by then part of Prussia) in 1857.

Selected publications 1799: "Addendum to the correction of individual views in the painting of Lisbon and individual fragments of an eyewitness to the knowledge of this capital city." In: [Joseph-François Barthélémy Carr], Latest paintings of Lisbon. With an appendix from the French by W. Tilesius. Leipzig, Karl Wilhelm Küchl (pp. 321–504). 1799: Johann Christian Rosenmüller / Tilesius William Gottlieb (ed.), Description of strange caves. A contribution to the physical history of the earth. Leipzig, Breitkopf and Haertel. 1800: Directory and classification of strange sea creatures 1800: "On the state of the art of dissection in Portugal." In: Johann Christian Rosenmüller / Henry F. Isenflamm (ed.), Contributions to the art of dissection. Volume 1, Issue 3, Leipzig, Tauchnitz (pp. 383–435). 1802: On the so-called sea mice [marine polychaete worms of genus Aphrodita] 1802: Year Book of Natural History for the display and evaluation of new discoveries and observations. Vol. 1, Leipzig, Karl Wilhelm Küchl. 1813: Fruits of the natural history of the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth