Biography

German chemist and botanist on the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733-1743). Although never reaching the Pacific, Johann Georg Gmelin and his companions travelled for nearly ten years in Siberia collecting extensive data on the history, natural history, geography and people of the region.

Originally from Tübingen, Gmelin was the son of a well known apothecary and lecturer at the city's university. Taught medicine and chemistry by his father from an early age, the nascent naturalist was able to enter Tübingen University in 1722 as a young teenager. Two years later he read his first dissertation on the physiology of digestion under the guidance of his professor of anatomy, J.G. Douvernoy.

Along with Gmelin's mathematics master, G.B. Bilfinger, Douvernoy planned to move to St. Petersburg and the pair encouraged their student to join them at the Russian Academy of Sciences after he graduated in 1727. First, however, Gmelin took a grand tour of Germany, visiting the botanic gardens and anatomy theatres of several cities, before journeying to Russia. On arrival he donated an interesting fossil from his travels to the Kunstkammer (curiosity chamber) and was rewarded with employment and accommodation.

Assisting at the Kunstkammer Gmelin continued with his anatomical studies, publishing a few papers and helping with the creation of a catalogue of the museum's collections. In 1730 Gmelin was named an adjunct in the field of natural history at the Academy of Sciences, a title which was quickly elevated to professor of chemistry and natural history as more such positions were created. In this role he taught several medical and chemistry students and was a regular contributor of scientific articles to the Academy's popular newspaper, the Gazzette, as well as serving on its editorial board.

By 1733 arrangements for the Second Kamchatka Expedition were well underway, with Vitus Bering leading three groups by sea to explore the northern coast. Gmelin was nominated as natural historian to work besides geographer and historian G.F. Muller and astronomer L. De l'Isle de la Croyère on the academic section of the expedition, due to leave by land and meet Bering at Okhotsk. As the departure approached, Gmelin was suddenly taken sick and was close to leaving Russia to return home. Fortunately, he quickly returned to health and the party left with a glamorous entourage of six students, four land surveyors, an interpreter and two draughtsmen. Gmelin became the detachment's unofficial leader as they crossed the Volga and travelled via Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk on Lake Baikal. After working their way to the Chinese border at Kyakhta they returned to Lake Baikal, already with a rich collection of new plant and animal specimens. Pushing onwards towards Kamchatka and Bering, they had to wait for the Lena river to open, enabling them to travel by boat to Yakutsk. Reaching this town in 1736 they over-wintered there and were united with Bering, although soon a great tragedy was to befall them. Gmelin's specimens, equipment and books were all destroyed in a fire and, to make matters worse, Bering was unable to secure provisions for their passage to Kamchatka. With Muller suffering from an illness and Gmelin keen to return to Siberia to replace his lost specimens, it was decided that the team would turn back.

The return journey would end up being five years long and take them to explore the Angara and Tunguska rivers, the deserts between the Kan and Tuba rivers, the Minusinskaya Basin and the Barbara Steppe. In this part of their journey a vast amount of data and specimens were collected, documenting the history, natural history, ethnography and geology of the region and taking astronomical and meteorological measurements. In Yeniseysk they met Georg Wilhelm Steller, a later member of the expedition who would go on not only to Kamchatka, but also to Alaska with Bering, being the first naturalist to set foot there.

On crossing the Urals Gmelin took time to study the mines and settlements before returning to St. Petersburg in early 1743. Resuming his post as professor Gmelin set to work organising his manuscripts with the aim of producing a series on the natural history of Siberia. Eventually only the flora would be produced, but it was nonetheless an impressive work. Containing the descriptions of 1,178 species and 294 illustrations, the Flora Sibirica was published between 1747 and 1769. The work was arranged according to John Ray's system, although Gmelin relied heavily on his correspondence with Carl Linnaeus for the identification of his plants.

A number of other important findings were made by his section of the expedition, such as the measurement of the coldest temperature ever recorded at that time, in Yeniseysk, and the discovery that the Caspian Sea lies at a lower altitude than the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

By the time he began publishing the Flora Sibirica Gmelin was already back in Tübingen, having been offered the position of professor of medicine, botany and chemistry at the university. His leaving was not taken particularly well by the Russian authorities and the disputes worsened when, in 1751, he published a candid account of his travels. Gmelin, however, was content in Tübingen where he married and had two sons before he was taken ill suddenly and died aged just 47. His extensive collection of plant specimens was returned to St. Petersburg after his death, although many of them found their way to London via Simon Pallas and are now at the Natural History Museum (BM).

Sources:
W.J. Bryce, 2008, A Botanist's Paradise: The Establishment of Scientific Botany in Russia in the Eighteenth Century
V. Kruta, 1972, "Gmelin, Johann Georg", Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 5: 427-429
M. Rowell, 1980, "Linnaeus and Botanists in Eighteenth-Century Russia", Taxon, 29(1): 15-26.