Fritz Müller
Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːhan ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈteːodoːɐ̯ ˈmʏlɐ]; 31 March 1822 – 21 May 1897), better known as Fritz Müller (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈfɾits ˈmileʁ]), and also as Müller-Desterro,[1][2] was a German biologist who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the city of Blumenau, Santa Catarina. There he studied the natural history of the Atlantic forest and was an early advocate of Darwinism. Müllerian mimicry is named after him.[3]
For other uses, see Fritz Müller (disambiguation).
Fritz Müller
31 March 1822
Life[edit]
Müller was born in the village of Windischholzhausen, near Erfurt in Thuringia, Germany, the son of a minister. Müller had what would be seen today as a normal scientific education at the universities of Berlin (earning a BSc in Botany) and Greifswald, culminating in a PhD in Biology. He subsequently decided to study medicine. As a medical student, he began to question religion and in 1846 became an atheist, joining the Free Congregations and supporting free love. Despite completing the course, he did not graduate because he refused to swear the graduation oath, which contained the phrase "so help me God and his sacred Gospel".
Müller was disappointed by the failure of the Prussian Revolution in 1848, fearing implications for his life and career. As a result, he emigrated to Brazil in 1852, with his brother August and their wives, to join Hermann Blumenau's new colony in the State of Santa Catarina. In Brazil, Müller became a farmer, doctor, teacher and biologist. During this time, he studied the natural history of the sub-tropical Atlantic forest, around the Itajaí River valley.
Müller gained an official teaching post, and spent a decade teaching mathematics at a college in Desterro.[4][5] The college was taken over by the Jesuits, and Müller (though retaining his salary) returned to the Itajaí River valley. He negotiated a number of botanical activities with the provincial government and spent the next nine years doing botanical research and advising farmers. In 1876 he was appointed as a Travelling Naturalist to the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro.
In his retirement years, Müller received many offers of support and offers of financial help. He was one of many naturalists to visit and work in South America during the nineteenth century, but was the only one to settle in Brazil for the rest of his life. A statue of Müller was erected in Blumenau in 1929.[6]