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Johann Georg Adam Forster (November 27, 1754〔Many sources, including the biography by Thomas Saine, give Forster's birth date as November 26; according to Enzensberger, Ulrich (1996) ''Ein Leben in Scherben (Life in Ruins )'', Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, ISBN 3-423-13248-5, the baptism registry of St Peter in Danzig lists November 27 as the date of birth and December 5 as the date of baptism.〕 – January 10, 1794) was a naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. His report of that journey, ''A Voyage Round the World'', contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, Forster was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of twenty-two and came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature. After returning to continental Europe, Forster turned toward academia. He traveled to Paris to seek out a discussion with the American revolutionary Benjamin Franklin in 1777. He taught natural history at the Collegium Carolinum in the Ottoneum, Kassel (1778–84), and later at the Academy of Vilna (Vilnius University) (1784–87). In 1788, he became head librarian at the University of Mainz. Most of his scientific work during this time consisted of essays on botany and ethnology, but he also prefaced and translated many books about travel and exploration, including a German translation of Cook's diaries. Forster was a central figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including his close friend Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. His ideas and personality influenced Alexander von Humboldt, one of the great scientists of the 19th century. When the French took control of Mainz in 1792, Forster became one of the founders of the city's Jacobin Club and went on to play a leading role in the Mainz Republic, the earliest republican state in Germany. During July 1793 and while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794. ==Early life== Georg Forster was born in the small village of Nassenhuben (Mokry Dwór) near Danzig (Gdańsk), in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the oldest of seven surviving children of Johann Reinhold Forster and Justina Elisabeth (née Nicolai). His father was a naturalist, scientist and Reformed pastor. In 1765, the Russian empress Catherine II commissioned the pastor to travel through Russia on a research journey and investigate the situation of a German colony on the Volga River. Georg, then ten years old, joined him. On the journey, which reached the Kalmyk steppe on the lower Volga, they discovered several new species, and the young Forster learned how to conduct scientific research and practice cartography. He also became fluent in Russian. The report of the journey, which included sharp criticism of the governor of Saratov, was not well received at court. The Forsters claimed they had not received fair payment for their work〔Reintjes, p. 9〕 and had to move house. They chose to settle in England in 1766. The father took up teaching at the Dissenter's Academy in Warrington and also translation work. At the age of only thirteen, the young Forster published his first book: an English translation of Lomonosov's history of Russia, which was well received in scientific circles. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Georg Forster」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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