Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (also: Caspar Maria, Count Sternberg, German: Kaspar Maria Graf Sternberg, Czech: hrabě Kašpar Maria Šternberk), 1761, Prague – 1838, Březina Castle), was a Bohemian theologian, mineralogist, geognost, entomologist and botanist. He is known as the "Father of Paleobotany".[citation needed]. His parents were Count Johann Nepomuk von Sternberg and Countess Anna Josefa Kolowrat-Krakowsky.
He established the Bohemian National Museum in Prague — his collection of minerals, fossils and plant specimens formed the core collection of the museum,[1] and he is deemed to be the founder of modern paleobotany. As of 1820 he was on friendly terms with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Originally a student of theology, he attended the Collegium anglicum in Rome, from where he obtained a lower ordination. Inspired by the newly founded Regensburg Botanical Society (1790), he became an avid naturalist, subsequently becoming a prominent member of the society, making contributions to its Botanisches Taschenbuch and also establishing a botanical garden in Regensburg. In 1805, during an extended stay in Paris, he met with Alexander von Humboldt and came under the influence of a number of French paleontologists and botanists. Afterwards, he relocated to an estate in Radnice, Bohemia. Here, he created a botanical garden, and conducted important paleobotanical research at recently opened coal mines located in the surrounding areas.[1][2]
The botanical genus Sternbergia is named in his honor.[3]
Publications
- Abhandlung über die Pflanzenkunde in Böhmen (rwo volumes 1817-1818) - Treatise on the botany of Bohemia.
- Briefwechsel (1820-1832) - Correspondence with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.[4][5]
- Versuch einer geognostisch-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt (with August Karl Joseph Corda, 1820-1825; two volumes) - Attempt at a geognostic-botanical description of primordial flora.[6]
- Ausgewählte Werke des Grafen Kaspar von Sternberg, 1902 - Selected works of Count Kaspar von Sternberg.
- Leben des Grafen Kaspar von Sternberg, 2010 - The life of Count Kaspar von Sternberg.
The standard botanical author abbreviation Sternb. is applied to species he described.
