The New International Encyclopædia/Burmeister, Hermann

BURMEISTER, bo͞or′mī̇s-tẽr, Hermann (1807-92). A German naturalist, born in Stralsund. He studied medicine and natural history at Halle, and in 1837 became professor of zoölogy there. In 1848 he was a deputy to the German National Assembly, and afterwards was a representative in the Prussian First Chamber. In 1850 he traversed part of Brazil in the interest of science, and visited other parts of South America a few years later, becoming in 1861 director of the National Museum at Buenos Ayres, where he died. He published many elaborate works on zoölogy, among them Handbuch der Entomologie (1832-55); Systematische Uebersicht der Tiere Brasiliens (1854-56); and Physikalische Beschreibung der Argentinischen Republik (1875).