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:''For the Swiss doctor and zoologist, see Fritz Müller (doctor)''
'Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller' PhD (March 31, 1821–May 21, 1897), always known as ''Fritz'', was a German biologist who emigrated to Brazil, where he studied the natural history of the Amazon rainforest and was an early advocate of evolutionary theory. Müllerian mimicry is named after him.
Müller was born in Windischholzhausen, near Erfurt, Germany, on March 31 1821, the son of a minister. Unlike many of his contemporaries in Britain, Müller had what would be seen today as a normal scientific education at the universities of Berlin and Griefswald, culminating in a PhD.
Later, he decided to study medicine. As a medical student, he began to question religion and in 1846 became an atheist, joining the Free Congregation and supporting free love. He then refused to swear his medical oath because it contained the phrase "so help me God and his sacred Gospel" and was disappointed by the failure of the Prussian Revolution in 1848. As a result, he emigrated to Brazil in 1852 with Hermann Blumenau to the new colony of Blumenau.
In Blumenau Müller, living with his wife Caroline, became a farmer, doctor, teacher and biologist, sometimes employed by the provincial government, sometimes surviving on his own efforts, sometimes defending against indians but always collecting evidence of life in the great Amazon basin. His great discovery was about the advantage one unpalatable species would gain from resembling another unpalatable species.
Müller wrote ''Für Darwin'' in 1864, arguing that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection that had been advanced five years before in ''The Origin of Species'' was correct, and that Brazilian crustaceans and their larvae could be affected by adaptations at any growth stage. This was translated into English by W.S. Dallas as ''Facts and Arguments for Darwin'' in 1869 (Darwin sponsored the translation and publication). If Müller had a weakness it was that his writing was much less readable than that of Darwin or Wallace; both the German and English editions are hard reading indeed, which has limited the appreciation of this significant book.
Extensive correspondence exists between Müller and Darwin, and Müller also corresponded with Hermann Müller, Alexander Agassiz, Ernst Krause, and Ernst Haeckel.
Between 1874 and 1891, Müller worked as a travelling naturalist for the Brazilian National Museum, working with basic materials. He was a contemporary of several other foreign naturalists and scientists who were invited by Pedro II of Brazil to work at the museum, such as Émil Goeldi and Hermann von Ihering.
★ Alfred Moeller 1920. ''Fritz Müller. Werke, Briefe und Leben'' [virtually the sole biographical source for this significant biologist]
★ David A. West 2003. ''Fritz Müller: a naturalist in Brazil''. Blacksburg: Pocahontas Press. ISBN 0-936015-92-6 [modern, and most welcome, though the biographical information rests on Moeller's book]
★ Henry Walter Bates
★ Science and technology in Brazil
★
★
★ ''Facts and Arguments for Darwin''
★ Fritz Müller short biography.
★ Dr. Fritz Müller on Some Difficult Cases of Mimicry (1882)
★ Fritz Müller on mimicry
★ Review of West's biography (pdf file)
★ ''Another'' review of West's biography, and a different photo of the man
'Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller' PhD (March 31, 1821–May 21, 1897), always known as ''Fritz'', was a German biologist who emigrated to Brazil, where he studied the natural history of the Amazon rainforest and was an early advocate of evolutionary theory. Müllerian mimicry is named after him.
Müller was born in Windischholzhausen, near Erfurt, Germany, on March 31 1821, the son of a minister. Unlike many of his contemporaries in Britain, Müller had what would be seen today as a normal scientific education at the universities of Berlin and Griefswald, culminating in a PhD.
Later, he decided to study medicine. As a medical student, he began to question religion and in 1846 became an atheist, joining the Free Congregation and supporting free love. He then refused to swear his medical oath because it contained the phrase "so help me God and his sacred Gospel" and was disappointed by the failure of the Prussian Revolution in 1848. As a result, he emigrated to Brazil in 1852 with Hermann Blumenau to the new colony of Blumenau.
In Blumenau Müller, living with his wife Caroline, became a farmer, doctor, teacher and biologist, sometimes employed by the provincial government, sometimes surviving on his own efforts, sometimes defending against indians but always collecting evidence of life in the great Amazon basin. His great discovery was about the advantage one unpalatable species would gain from resembling another unpalatable species.
Müller wrote ''Für Darwin'' in 1864, arguing that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection that had been advanced five years before in ''The Origin of Species'' was correct, and that Brazilian crustaceans and their larvae could be affected by adaptations at any growth stage. This was translated into English by W.S. Dallas as ''Facts and Arguments for Darwin'' in 1869 (Darwin sponsored the translation and publication). If Müller had a weakness it was that his writing was much less readable than that of Darwin or Wallace; both the German and English editions are hard reading indeed, which has limited the appreciation of this significant book.
Extensive correspondence exists between Müller and Darwin, and Müller also corresponded with Hermann Müller, Alexander Agassiz, Ernst Krause, and Ernst Haeckel.
Between 1874 and 1891, Müller worked as a travelling naturalist for the Brazilian National Museum, working with basic materials. He was a contemporary of several other foreign naturalists and scientists who were invited by Pedro II of Brazil to work at the museum, such as Émil Goeldi and Hermann von Ihering.
| Contents |
| Biographies |
| See also |
| External links |
Biographies
★ Alfred Moeller 1920. ''Fritz Müller. Werke, Briefe und Leben'' [virtually the sole biographical source for this significant biologist]
★ David A. West 2003. ''Fritz Müller: a naturalist in Brazil''. Blacksburg: Pocahontas Press. ISBN 0-936015-92-6 [modern, and most welcome, though the biographical information rests on Moeller's book]
See also
★ Henry Walter Bates
★ Science and technology in Brazil
External links
★
★
★ ''Facts and Arguments for Darwin''
★ Fritz Müller short biography.
★ Dr. Fritz Müller on Some Difficult Cases of Mimicry (1882)
★ Fritz Müller on mimicry
★ Review of West's biography (pdf file)
★ ''Another'' review of West's biography, and a different photo of the man
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