Albert von Sack

Sebastian Albert Freiherr[1] von Sack (1757 – August 1829) was a German explorer and a chamberlain of Prussian nobility. In June 1821 he was honored with the title of Graf (count).

He was born in Eichholz, Liegnitz, Silesia. In 1805 he travelled to Surinam, where he made observations of the fauna, flora and local customs of the population. On his return journey back to Europe, he visited Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, et al. As a result of his travels he published Beschreibung einer Reise nach Surinam und des Aufenthaltes daselbst in den Jahren 1805, 1806, 1807 sowie von Rückkehr des Verfassers nach Europa über Nord-Amerika. In 1810 this treatise was translated into English as "A narrative of a voyage to Surinam; of a residence there during 1805-1807; and of the authors return to Europe by the way of North America".

In 1817 Baron von Sack undertook a scientific mission to Egypt and the Middle East with poet Wilhelm Müller (1794–1827), and in 1820, on an expedition with Austrian consul Georg Christian Gropius (1781–1854), he procured the "Fragment from the tomb of Nikarete" in Athens. This antiquity is now housed in the Antikensammlung in Berlin.

In 1824 he accompanied William Bullock (1773–1849) and Ferdinand Deppe (1794–1861) to Mexico in order to collect natural history specimens for the Berlin Museum. He died in Berlin.

A species of Mexican lizard, Aspidoscelis sackii, is named in his honor.[2]

Notes and references
  1. Regarding personal names: Freiherr was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Baron. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Sack", p. 231).

Sources
  • Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia.
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