Home > Georg Wilhelm Steller

Steller was born in Windsheim , near Nuremberg and studied at the University of Wittenberg. He then travelled to Russia to work at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences, arriving in November 1734.

Steller was appointed as naturalist on Vitus Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition, to chart the Siberian coast of the Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean located entirely in the north polar region, is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean), and the shallowest. It occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an are and search an eastern passage to North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea. He left St Petersburg in January 1738, eventually reaching OkhotskOkhotsk is a townlet and seaport at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia. Okhotsk was the first Russian settlement in the Russian Far East, established in 1647. It is known for being the headquarters for the explorer Vitus Bering, w on the east coast in August 1740. It was here that he met Bering for the first time.

In September the expedition sailed to the Kamchatka PeninsulaFor other uses of "Kamchatka", see Kamchatka (disambiguation). Kamchatka Peninsula ( Russian: ) is a 1,250-kilometer-long peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of 472,300 km². It lies between the Pacific Ocean (to the east) and the Sea of Okhots. Steller spent the winter in Bolsheretsk , where he helped to organize a local school. He was then appointed to join Bering on the voyage to America. The expedition landed in AlaskaOn January 3, 1959, Alaska was admitted to the United States as the 49th state. The population of the state is 626,932, as of 2000. The name "Alaska" is most likely derived from the Aleut word for "great country" or "mainland. The natives called it "Alyes at Kadyak Kayak Island in July 1741, staying only long enough to take on fresh water. During this time Steller became the first European naturalist to describe a number of North American plants and animals, including a Blue Jay later named Steller's JayThe Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri is a jay of western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the continent, but having a black head and upper body. The Steller's Jay shows a great deal of regional variation throughout its.

On the return journey the expedition was shipwrecked on what later became known as Bering IslandBering Island ( Russian: Ostrov Beringa is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. At 90 kilometers (55 miles) long by 20 kilometers (15 miles) wide, it is the largest of the Komandorski Islands. It is desolate and experiences severe weathe. Here Bering died, and almost half of the crew perished from scurvyScurvy is a disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C and leads to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums and bleeding from almost all mucous membranes. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with. The remaining men settled in to survive the winter, the camp plagued by Arctic Foxes. During this time Steller wrote De Bestiis Marinus, describing the fauna of the island, including the Northern Fur Seal, the Sea Otter, Steller's (or Northern) Sea Lion, Steller's Sea Cow, Steller's Eider and Spectacled Cormorant. Both the Sea Cow and the Cormorant were later hunted to extinction.

In the spring the crew constructed a new vessel to return to Okhotsk. Steller spent the next two years exploring the Kamchatka peninsula. He was recalled to St Petersburg but caught a fever on the journey and died at Tyumen.

His journals did reach the Academy and were published by Peter Simon Pallas. They were used by future explorers of the North Pacific, including Captain Cook.

There is a secondary school in Anchorage, Alaska named after him: see