Photogravure after a painting by H Hellhoff. Ferdinand von Richtofen (1833-1905) was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and studied in Berlin. In 1860 he took part in a Prusian expedition to East Asia, then worked as a geologist in the United States from 1862-1868, before returning to make several more explorations of China, Japan, Burma and Java. His geographical, geological, economic, and ethnological findings were published in three volumes and an atlas. He was profesor of geology at Bonn (1875-1883), and geography at Leipzig (1883-1886) and Berlin universities (from 1886). From a collection of portraits of scientists published by Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, c 1910. Dimensions: 460mm x 340mm.
© Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library