Peter Ascanius

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Peter Ascanius

| image = Ascanius portrett.JPG

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1723|05|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Aure, Romsdalen, Norway.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1803|06|04|1723|05|24|df=yes}}

| death_place = Copenhagen, Denmark

| resting_place =

| other_names =

| citizenship = Norwegian

| nationality =

| fields = Biologist

| academic_advisors = Carl Linnaeus
Johan Gottschalk Wallerius

| known_for =

| awards =

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Peter Ascanius (24 May 1723 – 4 June 1803) was a Norwegian-Danish biologist and geologist. He was a professor of zoology and mineralogy.{{Cite web |title=Peder Ascanius (1723-1803) |url=http://www.nhm.uio.no/forskning/aktuelt/arrangementer/konferanser-seminarer/2011/bergseminaret-berg-o.pdf |access-date=January 1, 2017 |publisher=Naturhistorisk Museum, UiO}}{{Cite web |date=31 October 2011 |title=Peder Ascanius |url=https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Peder_Ascanius |access-date=September 1, 2020 |website=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon}}

Early life and education

He was born at Aure in Romsdalen county, Norway. In 1742 he graduated from Trondheim Cathedral School and attended the University of Copenhagen where he studied medicine and took a Bachelor's degree in 1747. From 1752 he stayed a couple of years at Uppsala University where he was a student of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). He studied natural history with Linnaeus and chemistry and metallurgy with Johan Gottschalk Wallerius (1709–1785). Ascanius undertook a study trip in the years 1753 to 1758, visiting the Netherlands, England, France, Italy and Austria.{{Cite web |title=Peter Ascanius, norsk naturforskare |url=https://runeberg.org/nfbb/0077.html |access-date=September 1, 2020 |website=Nordisk familjebok}}{{Cite web |title=Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) |url=https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html |access-date=September 1, 2020 |website=University of California, Berkeley}}{{Cite web |title=Johan Gottschalk Wallerius |url=https://runeberg.org/nfck/0267.html |access-date=September 1, 2020 |website=Nordisk familjebok}}

Career

After returning from his European study trip, in 1759, Ascanius was appointed professor of natural history at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts which was established at Charlottenborg at Copenhagen in 1754. He taught zoology and mineralogy in Copenhagen from 1759 to 1771. In 1768 he was sent on a research and collection trip along the Norwegian coast from Kristiansand to Bergen. In 1753, Ascanius visited the iron deposit Taberg in Småland.

In the years 1771–1776 he worked as a mining inspector at the silver mines in Kongsberg. During the period 1776–1788, he was made a senior mining official (Berghauptmann) and was given responsibility for iron smelting and hammering at the Kongsberg Silver Mines and teaching at the Kongsberg School of Mines.

Late life and death

Ascanius returned to Copenhagen in 1788. He died unmarried on 4 June 1803 and is buried in the crypt of Frederick's German Church in Christianshavn.

Publications

Among his published works was the five-volume illustrated Icones rerum naturalium. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1755 as a Foreign Member.{{Cite web |title=Fellow details |url=http://royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27NA7938%27%29 |access-date=14 October 2012 |publisher=royalsociety.org}}{{Cite web |last=Rune S. Selbekk |title=Peder Ascanius |url=https://snl.no/Peter_Ascanius |access-date=January 1, 2017 |publisher=Store norske leksikon}}