iFACTS | Peter Forsskål

Date of Birth	11 January 1732.
Place of Birth	Helsinki, Finland.
Date of Death	11 July 1763.
Place of Death	Yarim [Jerim], Jemen.
Monuments Medals Etc.	Medal of Peter Forsskål, 1922, The Swedish Academy, Stockholm. Memorial stamp of Peter Forsskål, 1979, Finland.
Variations of Name's Spelling	Petrus Forsskål (in his diary, ‘Resa till Lycklige Arabien’). Petr. Forsskål, Pet. Forsskål and P. Forsskål (in correspondence with Linnaeus). Pehr Forsskål (on an engraving of unknown origin). In literature he can alternatively be named Peter, Petter, Petrus or Pehr as first name. His surname can also be found in varying Swedish, Danish, German and Latin variations principally; Forsskål, Forsskåhl, Forsskaal, Forskal, Forskaolii, Forsskaolii or Forskaohlii. Forsskål is still the most used.
Preserved signature	In correspondence.
Portrait	Portrait of Peter Forsskål, detail from lithograph “Kon. Gustaf IIIs Samtida”. Lithograph and print by Hårdh & Co. [Source; Markku Haverinen, Wadströmska Collection (Antellska Collection), Museiverket, Finland]. Portrait of Peter Forsskål, ca 1760. Oil on canvas, probably by Paul Dahlman. Owner: Uppsala University, Sweden. Small depiction in one of Forsskål’s autograph-books, illustrating Forsskål and Seidelin hunting butterflies at Göttingen. Painted by his fellow-student Frederik Seidelin, added with brief notes in Latin and dated 1755. Portrait in ‘Svenskt Pantheon’, seventeenth part, Stockholm 1834. The same portrait as above was printed during the 1840s, as a group portrait. Peter Forsskål here depicted as one of eight famous men accompanied by the King, named “Kon. Gustaf IIIs Samtida”, The National Museum of Finland. Engraving of Peter Forsskål, of unknown origin, The National Museum of Finland. Medal of Peter Forsskål, 1922, The Swedish Academy, Stockholm.
Childhood, Adolescence & Education	Father, vicar Johan Forsskål. Mother, Margareta Kolbeck, she died 1735. The family moved to Sweden 1741, and his father was appointed vicar in Tegelsmora, Uppland. Student, Uppsala University, signed in 27 November 1742, (probably in combination with home studies during his early university years). The family moved to Stockholm 1746, where his father was appointed vicar in the Finnish parish, later in the Maria parish. He received the “Guthermuthska stipendiet’’ January 1751. (This scholarship made it possible for Forsskål to travel abroad for further studies). Theological exam, 26 March 1751. Göttingen University, Germany; to study theology, philosophy and Oriental philology, signed in 13 October 1753. Bachelor and Master of philosophy in Göttingen, 12 June 1756. He returned to Uppsala University during the autumn of 1756, foremost studying economy.
Professional Life	Senior lecturer in economy, Uppsala University, spring 1759. He was appointed a Danish situation 1759, and received the title of Professor.
Journeys & Voyages	Copenhagen, Denmark, September 1760. He joined a Danish expedition to Arabia; sailed 7 January 1761 with the ship Grönland. Marseille 14 May, Constantinople 30 July - 11 September, stayed in Egypt for c. one year until October 1762, 29 December 1762 to Arabia where Forsskål died in Yemen 11 July 1763. (Forsskål was appointed as the natural historian of the expedition, he also received a yearly salary of 500 rdl. [rix dollar] during the two years before the journey. Together with the privilege to collect a Danish pension after the return home, which never became realised for Forsskål).
Travel Diaries & Other Publications in Connection with the Journeys & Voyages	Resa till lycklige Arabien - Petrus Forsskåls dagbok 1761- 1763. (Published 1950, Svenska Linnésällskapet. The Diary was transcribed by Henrik Schück, after a fair copy of other hand than Forsskål’s and probably incomplete. Forsskål’s original diary has for an unknown reason and at an unknown point of time gone missing). Two autograph-books which Forsskål carried with him during his journeys, The Royal Library, Copenhagen. “The Plants of Pehr Forsskal’s Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica”. Published 1775 by Carsten Niebuhr. (The results of the expedition were first published in the 1770s and have been frequently republished ever since. Den Arabiske Rejse 1761-1767. En dansk ekspedition set i videnskapbshistorisk perspektiv, ed. Stig T. Rasmussen 1992).
Civil Status & Family	Unmarried.
Preserved Collections & Manuscripts	Herbarium plants, The Botanical Museum, Copenhagen “Herbarium Forsskaolii”. (The herbarium contains 1.750 plants with descriptions. The collection held originally 2.093 samples, as described by Forsskål in “Flora Aegyptiaco- Arabica”). Herbarium plants, Lund’s Botanical Institution, (c. 200 plants are included in Forsskål’s herbarium), and Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm (c. 150 specimens). Smaller collections or single specimens only of herbarium plants related to Forsskål can be traced in several institutions, viz.; the Thunberg Herbarium in Uppsala, Retzius Herbarium in Lund, Natural History Museum in London, The Linnean Society of London, University of Kiel, World Museum of Liverpool, Jussieu Herbarium in Paris and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Collection of almost 100 dried fish samples, The Zoological Museum, Copenhagen. Two autograph-books which Forsskål carried with him during his journeys, The Royal Library, Copenhagen. Letters, The Linnean Society of London, Linnean Correspondence (28 letters to Linnaeus, 1753-1763).
Extra Notes	Forsskål was the first person to describe the unusual plant and animal life of the Red Sea. The German scientist Carsten Niebuhr was the only surviving member of the expedition, he saved the greater part of the expedition’s collection and took it back to Denmark. Forsskål published 1759 Tankar om den borgerliga friheten, (Thoughts on civil freedom) printed in 500 copies (79 copies withdrawn). The book was affected by censorship, for the reason that the government regarded the publication to proclaim dangerous principles upon society. Carl Linnaeus named a non-stinging nettle Forsskaolea to the memory of Forsskål, which also germinated from seeds, which Forsskål had sent home from Egypt. The type of the genus was named F. tenacissima, probably a tribute to Forsskål’s tenacity.
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THE FISH HERBARIUM

– Collected by Peter Forsskål in the 1760s

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