Gottlieb von Koch


Gottlieb Karl David von Koch was a zoologist, painter, sculptor, and museum curator. He served as a professor of zoology at the technical school in Darmstadt. He published on octocorals and the species Eunicella kochi was named after him. He was involved in the construction of the Hessische Landesmuseum building opened in 1906 and was the scientific designer of Darmstadt's zoological dioramas. He is also known for his work on the Jung-Koch-Quentell Wall Charts.

Life and work

Born 15 October 1849 in Hirschberg, Thuringia, the son of a factory owner, he was educated by private tutors and at school at Ebersdorf until 1864. After attending a trade school in Hof, Bavaria from 1864-1866, he studied mechanical engineering and zoology at the Polytechnikum Nuremberg from 1867-1870. There he lived in the former house of engraver and botanist Jacob Sturm and was inspired to study biology by Sturm's natural history collections.
After leaving the Polytechnikum in 1868, he studied ancient languages in Nuremberg and Hirschberg till 1869.
From 1870 to 1872, he studied medicine and natural sciences in Heidelberg and Jena. He earned his doctorate in philosophy in Jena on 26 July 1872 with the topic "Anatomie der Orgelkoralle Tubipora hemprichi" While at the university in Jena, he worked as assistant to Ernst Haeckel. In 1873 he did scientific work in Naples and Messina, at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. Anton Dohrn offered him an assistant position which he declined. On 16 December 1874, he earned his Magister grade in Jena and habilitated there.
From 3 May 1875, he was appointed inspector of the Natural History Cabinet in Darmstadt and began lectureship in zoology at the Polytechnikum Darmstadt. After the Polytechnikum became the Technische Hochschule, he was appointed as professor on 18 October 1877. In 1880, he became founding member of the Darmstadt Association for Natural Sciences. He was member of this association's board from 1892 to 1897. In addition to his teaching positions, he became the zoological curator of the Landesmuseum on 20.12.1890, which succeeded the Natural history Cabinet.
During his Darmstadt years, he visited the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn again, visited artist and museums, and worked in sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand's atelier in Florence, visiting Carrara to select marble for his own works. He published Die Gorgoniden des Golfes von Neapel.
Starting in 1892, he published a series of educational wall charts, together with teacher Heinrich Jung and Dr Friedrich Quentell.
He was involved in planning the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, which opened in 1906 and resigned from his teaching duties in 1905. Here he pioneered the idea of zoological dioramas for exhibiting taxidermy specimens. Instead of having specimens in cabinets, he had them arranged against a backdrop with natural-looking environment. Groups of animals forming zoogeographic associations were placed together. Many of these dioramas were damaged in World War II.
Gottlieb von Koch died 1914, Alsbach, Germany.
The bird species Mindanao cuckooshrike and Whiskered Pitta are named after von Koch.

Publications

Some of his publications include:
  • 1869 - Ornithologische Notizen aus dem Jahre 1869
  • 1871 - Synopsis der Vögel Deutschlands : kurze Beschreibung aller in Deutschland vorkommenden Arten.
  • Briefliches von den Moorweihern bei Erlangen
  • Die Stellungen der Vögel : für Präparatoren, Ausstopfer und Freunde der Vögel
  • 1873 - Bemerkungen über das Halten von niederen Seethieren
  • 1874 - Grundriss der Zoologie
  • 1877 Mittheilungen über Cölenteraten.
  • 1878 - Aufstellung der Spirituspräparate
  • 1880 Beschreibung eines Apparats zur Entfettung von Knochen
  • 1882 - Über die Entwicklung des Kalkskeletts von Asteroides calycularis
  • Anatomie der Clavularia prolifera n. sp. nebst einigen vergleichenden Bemerkungen
  • 1884 - Verfahren um Cement für stereochromatische Bemalung tauglich zu machen ; imperial patent nr 29670.
  • 1886 - Untersuchung über das Wachsthum von Antipathes
  • 1887 - Die Gorgoniden des Golfes von Neapel und der angrenzenden Meeresabschnitte.
  • 1888 - Über Flabellum
  • 1890 - Über Krügeners Taschenbuch-Camera
  • 1892 - Über naturgeschichtliche Sammlungen

Personal life

In summer 1879, Gottlieb von Koch married his wife Elise. As the marriage remained child-less, the couple opened up their house for children of the neighborhood to let them play there. He published several books with children's stories and songs. In 1909, he founded an association for the "performance of von Koch's children's games".
He bequeathed his house to the city of Darmstadt under the condition it would be used for child care. As of 2025, the house is used by the communal Day Care Center Koch'sches Haus.