Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus

Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus

Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus (July 16, 1776 – April 2, 1827) was a German physician and naturalist who spent most of his active career teaching at Vilnius University in Tsarist Russia.^[1]

Bojanus was born at Bouxwiller in Alsace,^[2] finished his secondary education in Darmstadt and studied medicine at the University of Jena (Dr.med., 1797). In 1804 he was appointed professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Vilnius, a post which he could assume only in 1806,^[3] adding comparative anatomy to his offerings in 1814.^[4] In 1822 he was appointed rector of the university. Two years later, he returned to Darmstadt, where he died on 2 April 1827.^[3]

He produced an important work on the anatomy of turtles, Anatome Testudinis Europaeae.^[5] He was the author of several scientific discoveries, including a glandular organ in bivalvular molluscs that is now known as the organ of Bojanus.^[6] Also, he provided anatomical distinctions for the aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the Steppe wisent (Bison priscus), being the binomal author of both species.^[7]

In 1814 he was elected corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St.Petersburg;^[8] in 1818 he became a member of the Imperial Leopold-Caroline Academy of Natural Sciences then in Bonn,^[9] and in 1821 was a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

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