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Wilhelm Karl Hartwich Peters (April 22, 1815 in
KoldenbüttelKoldenbüttel is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.-Geography und infrastructure:...
- April 20, 1883) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
naturalistNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and explorer.
He was assistant to
Johannes Peter MüllerJohannes Peter Müller , was a German physiologist, comparative anatomist, and ichthyologist not only known for his discoveries but also for his ability to synthesize knowledge.-Early years and education:...
and later curator of the Berlin Zoological Museum. In September 1842 he travelled to
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
via
AngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. He returned to Berlin with an enormous collection of natural history specimens. He wrote
Naturwissenschaftliche Reise nach Mossambique... in den Jahren 1842 bis 1848 ausgeführt (1852-82). He replaced
Martin LichtensteinMartin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein was a German physician, explorer, zoologist, and herpetologist.-Biography:...
as curator of the museum in 1858, and in the same year he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
. In a few years time he greatly increased the Berlin Museum's
herpetologicalHerpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
collection to a size comparable to those of Paris and London.