Richthofen, Ferdinand von |
| GEOGRAPHER, EXPLORER (GERMANY) |
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BORN 5 May 1833, Carlsruhe, Silesia (now: Pokój) - DIED 6 Oct 1905, Berlin GRAVE LOCATION Stahnsdorf, Brandenburg: Südwestkirchhof, Bahnhofstrasse (Block Alte Umbettung, Abteilung C, Erbbegräbnis 127) |
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Ferdinand von Richthofen was educated at the Roman Catholic Gymnasium in Breslau before he studied Medicine in Breslau and Berlin. In 1860 he was a member of the Eulenburg Expedition that explored Japan, Taiwan, Java and other places until 1862. From 1862 to 1868 he worked as a geologist in the USA and he discovered goldfields in California. He travelled to China where he found the location of the dried-up lake bed of Lopnur. He published "China: Ergebnisse eigner Reisen und darauf gegründeter Studien" between 1877 and 1885. In 1875 he was appointed professor of geology in Bonn but because of his work in China it was 1879 before he actively took up his professorship. He coined the term "Seidenstraße" ("Silk route") in 1877. In 1883 he moved to the University of Leipzig and in 1886 to Berlin, where he was professor of geology until his death in 1905. The Swedish explorer Sven Hedin was one of his students. |
| Images |
 The grave of Ferdinand Richthofen at the Südwestfriedhof, Stahnsdorf. Picture by Androom (23 Aug 2017) |
Sources • Gottschalk, Wolfgang, Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf, Verlag Dirk Nishen, Berlin, 1991 • Ferdinand von Richthofen - Wikipedia (EN) |
