Biography

German (Bavarian) botanist and zoologist in Paris and East Prussia. August Friedrich Schweigger collected in many European localities and it was on a botanical excursion to Sicily that he was murdered aged just 38. Born in Erlangen, Franconia, many members of his family were successful scholars in their own right. As a child he was fragile and small but enjoyed comedy and set up his own theatre where he and friends composed poems and performed plays. While at the high school he studied classical languages as well as French, English, Italian and Swedish and in 1800 matriculated into the University of Erlangen. As a student of medicine, zoology and botany he was particularly drawn towards the latter of these subjects under the influence of J.C.D. von Schreber. In his spare time Schweigger took numerous trips into the local countryside in order to pursue his developing interest in floristics and in 1804 published his doctoral thesis, Specimen Florae Erlangensis, which would later form a considerable part of his Flora Erlangensis (1811).

After receiving his doctorate Schweigger moved to Berlin in order to perfect his training in medicine, but in 1806 he was sent to Paris and tasked with the acquisition of natural history specimens for Erlangen University's collection. Soon after his arrival Napoléon's troops defeated Prussia and, in order to remain safely in France, Schweigger had to exercise his medical skills. He practised as a physician and was interested in the hospitals and almshouses of the city, writing reports on the subject which were published in 1809. Another interest which Schweigger pursued during his three years in Paris was herpetology and particularly the study of chelonians, which he researched at the Museum of Natural History with the help of A.M. Constant Duméril, assistant professor and later chair of zoology. From his efforts Schweigger produced a monograph of 78 chelonian species, 24 of which were described for the first time in this Prodromus Monographiae Cheloniorum (1812) although without the 15 plates he had hoped to include.

By this time Schweigger had taken up the position of professor of medicine and director of the Königsberg Botanical Garden, then the capital of East Prussia and now the Russian city of Kaliningrad. Here his love of botany was resumed and he gave lectures in plant anatomy and physiology as well as zoology, taking his students on botanical rambles every Sunday. Over the years that followed Schweigger travelled much of Europe, botanising and visiting botanic gardens and museums in Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, France and Italy.

Whilst taking on the role of vice-chancellor of the Medical Faculty at Königsberg in 1820, Schweigger made plans for a great expedition to Sicily and Greece. After travelling down through Europe he reached Palermo in 1821 and began to explore the island, first taking a trip to Trapani and later accompanying the astronomer G. Migalore to Cammarata and Agrigente. In June of that year Schweigger took a guide, M. Alessi, and set out for the interior of Sicily in order to collect plants. A few days later, while Schweigger was drinking from a spring, his guide struck and killed him, depositing the body in a corn field and taking his possessions. Five days later the body was found and Alessi was quickly tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. It is not entirely clear why he committed the crime, for Schweigger was not carrying much of value with him, but it seems he mistook the botanist's secluded wanderings as hunting for treasure and assumed he was carrying more than just herbarium specimens.

Many taxa have since been named in honour of Schweigger, including the Violaceae genus Schweiggeria Spreng., the Iridaceae and Clusiaceae genera Schweiggera, several plant species, eight animal species and a scorpion. His Sicilian specimens found their way to Berlin but were largely destroyed, although his French specimens are retained in Paris.

Sources:
R. Bour, 2008, The life and herpetological contributions of August Friedrich Schweigger (1783-1821).