Nicholai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay | |
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| Born | 17 July 1846 Rozhdestvenskoye, Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 14 April 1888 (aged 41) |
| Nationality | Russian Empire |
| Alma mater | Heidelberg University, Leipzig University, Jena University |
| Known for | anthropological work in New Guinea and the Pacific |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ethnology, Anthropology, Biology |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Mikl.-Maclay |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Miklucho-Maclay |
Nicholai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Миклу́хо-Макла́й;[1] 17 [O.S. 5] July 1846 – 14 [O.S. 2] April 1888) was a Russian explorer of Ukrainian origin. He worked as an ethnologist, anthropologist and biologist who became famous as one of the earliest scientists to settle among and study indigenous people of New Guinea "who had never seen a European".[2]
Miklouho-Maclay spent the major part of his life travelling and conducted scientific research in the Middle East, Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia and Polynesia. Australia became his adopted country and Sydney the hometown of his family.[3][4]
He became a prominent figure of nineteenth-century Australian science and became involved in significant issues of Australian and New Guinea history.[4] Writing letters to Australian papers, Miklouho-Maclay expressed his opposition to the labour and slave trade ("blackbirding") in Australia, New Caledonia and the Pacific, as well as his opposition to the British and German colonial expansion in New Guinea.[5] While in Australia, he built the first biological research station in the Southern Hemisphere, was elected to the Linnean Society of New South Wales, was instrumental in establishing the Australasian Biological Association, stayed at the elite Australian Club, became the intimate of the leading amateur scientist and political figure Sir William Macleay, and married Margaret-Emma Robertson, the daughter of the Premier of New South Wales.[5] His three grandsons have all contributed to the public life of Australia.[4]
One of the earliest followers of Charles Darwin, Miklouho-Maclay is also remembered today as a scholar who, on the basis of his comparative anatomical research, was one of the first anthropologists to refute the prevailing view that the different races of mankind belonged to different species.
- ^ English variations of his name include: Nicolai Nicolaevich de Miklouho-Maclay 1, 2, Baron de Miklouho-Maklai which he used in letter writing, and others. In scientific literature, especially where he discovered sponge species, his surname is cited as Miklucho-Maclay.
- ^ Webster, E. M. (1984). The Moon Man: A Biography of Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay. University of California Press, Berkeley. 421 pages. ISBN 0-520-05435-0
- ^ Wongar, B., Commentary and Translator's Note in Miklouho-Maclay, N. N. The New Guinea Diaries 1871-1183, translated by B. Wonger, Dingo Books, Victoria, Australia ISBN 978-0-9775078-1-8
- ^ a b c Shnukal, A. (1998), 'N. N. Miklouho-Maclay in Torres Strait', Australian Aboriginal Studies, Vol. 1998, 1998
- ^ a b Peter Lawrence, review of the "Moon Man" by Webster, E. in the Journal of Polynesian Studies, Volume 95, No. 4, 1986 p 537-542