Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini

Mezzotint by J.E. Haid
Frontispiece of the Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet.

Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini (31 August 1729, Ohrdruf – 27 June 1778, Berlin) was a German physician, translator and conchologist.

Martini practised medicine in Berlin.[1] In 1769, he began the colour-illustrated shell book Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet, published by Gabriel Nikolaus Raspe at Nürnberg. He died following the publication of the third volume, after which the series was continued by Johann Hieronymus Chemnitz (1730–1800), who added eight volumes between 1779 and 1795. Because these volumes did not use the binomial system, the species names introduced are not considered valid.[2][3] However, the specimens illustrated often became type specimens, because subsequently others referred to them when publishing valid descriptions.[4] His shell collection was sold after his death but is now lost, probably deliberately disposed of in the 1970s.[4]

In 1773, Martini founded the Berlinische Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde, consisting of a group of natural historians who visited each other's collections and built up a collection for the society. The society still exists today.[5]

  1. ^ Reichert, P. (1995). "Notizen zu Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini (1729–1778) und zu den "Beschäftigungen der Berlinischen Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde" 1775–1779". Club Conchylia Informationen. 27 (1): 89–97.
  2. ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclatore (1999). International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth edition. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. p. Article 11.4.
  3. ^ "Opinion 184. On the status of names first published in volumes 1 to 11 of Martini (F. H. W.) and Chemnitz (J. H.), Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet, Nürnberg, 1769–1795". Opinions and Declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 3: 25–36. 1944.
  4. ^ a b Kronenberg, G.C.; Reise, H. (10 August 2023). "On the search for a conchological holy grail, the F.H.W. Martini (1729–1778) shell collection—a progress report". Archiv für Molluskenkunde. 152 (1): 71–80. doi:10.1127/arch.moll/152/071-080.
  5. ^ te Heesen, Anke (March 2004). "From natural historical investment to state service: collectors and collections of the Berlin Society of Friends of Nature Research, c . 1800". History of Science. 42 (1): 113–131. doi:10.1177/007327530404200104.