Heinrich Zollinger

Heinrich Zollinger (Feuerthalen, Canton of Zurich, March 22, 1818 - Java, Indonesia, May 19, 1859) was a Swiss botanist, mycologist, pteridologist, algologist and explorer.

Biography

He was a disciple of Thomas Scherr, first director of the "Normal School of Teaching" from Küsnacht. Zollinger finished his teaching career in September 1839 in the canton of Zurich. He made a study trip to Geneva and met Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle. He proposed that he go to Southeast Asia with the purpose of collecting specimens of natural history. Heinrich Zollinger had promised to get his specimens to the people who financed his trip.

He left from 1842 to 1848 to Java and the Sunda Islands. He studies the volcanoes that he finds in the area, which happened for the first time to a European, collecting numerous new specimens at the same time. He also makes observations on the ethnography and linguistics of the peoples he encounters. Upon his return to Switzerland in 1848, he resumed the direction of the Küsnacht normal school, however he became bored with this new activity. He left for Indonesia again in 1855, with his wife, two children and a tutor, settling in Rogojampi. Although the company was working very well, Zollinger experienced difficulties due to falling ill, as a result of a relapse of malaria from other times. His doctor advises him to rest in the Bromo Mountains. There Zollinger died in 1859, aged only 41.

Work

• Heinrich Zollinger. Reise durch Ostjava (Jornadas a Ostjava). In: Frorieps Fortschritte der Geographie und Naturgeschichte, No. 47, 1847
• Systematisches Verzeichniss der im indischen Archipel in den Jahren 1842-1848 gesammelten sowie der aus Japan empfangenen Pflanzen (" Taxonomy of Verzeichniss in the Indian archipelago in the 1842-1848 years collected as well as plants received from Japan). Herausgeben von H. Zollinger. Zurich. 1854
• Über Pflanzenphysiognomik im Allgemeinen und diejenige der Insel Java insbesondere (" About Vegetal Physiology in general and the island of Java in particular). Zürich, 1855
• Besteigung des Vulkans Tambora auf der Insel Sumbawa und Schilderung der Erupzion desselben im Jahre 1815 ("Ascense to the Tambora volcano on the island of Sumbawa and description of its eruption in 1815). Winter 1855

Recognitions

The genus Zollingeria Kurz of the Sapindaceae family is named in his honor.

Bibliography used

• Urs Rohr. Die Rolle des Forschers im kolonialen Prozess, aufgezeigt am Wirken des Zürcher Naturalisten Heinrich Zollinger in Niederländisch-Indien, Diplomarbeit am Geografischen Institut der Univ. Zürich, 1993
• Felix Frank. Vom Sekundarlehrer in Herzogenbuchsee zum Naturforscher in Java. In: Jahrbuch des Oberaargaus 1996. Zürich 1996, pp. 131-138.
• Robert Zander, Fritz Encke, Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold (eds.) Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen13.a ed. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-8001-5042-5