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Gottlieb von Koch was a zoologist, painter, sculptor, and museum curator. He was involved in the construction of the Hessische Landesmuseum building opened in 1906 and was the scientific designer of Darmstadt’s unique and internationally important zoological dioramas. He is also known for his work on the Jung–Koch–Quentell educational wall charts.

Life

Born 15.10.1849 in Hirschberg, Thuringia as son of a factory owner , he was educated by private tutors and a 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 hempichi" (the anatomy of organ coral t. hempichi.) 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 Ooctober 1877. In addition to his teaching positions, he became 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 (1891 Description of Cereopsis studeri Koch) 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.

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.

Gottlieb von Koch died 1914, Alsbach, Germany.

The bird species Mindanao cuckooshrike (Coracina striata kochi) and Whiskered Pitta (Erythropitta kochi) are named after von Koch.

Personal Life

In 1876, 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"(Verein zur Ausführung der G. v. Koch'schen Kinderspiele).

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.

References

1. ^ Anatomie der Orgelkoralle, Dissertation
2. Köhler, Jörn; Hita Garcia, Francisco (2018), Beck, Lothar A. (ed.), "DARMSTADT: The Zoological Collections of the Hessische Landesmuseum Darmstadt", Zoological Collections of Germany, Cham: Springer International Publishing, p. 237, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44321-8_20, ISBN 978-3-319-44319-5, retrieved 2025-01-04
3. ^ Darmstadt Stadtlexikon
4. ^ Dr Georg Scheer, Gottlieb von Koch, Museumsleiter, Naturwissenschaftler und Kinderfreund
5. Großherzoglich-Hessisches Regierungsblatt 1875, p 319
6. Arcinsys Serial case file von Koch, Gottlieb,
7. Großherzoglich-Hessisches Regierungsblatt. 1877 p 373 }
8. Rediscovery of Cereopsis studeri Koch, 1891, a forgotten Mediterranean soft coral species, and its inclusion in the genus Nidalia Gray, 1835 (Octocorallia, Alcyonacea, Nidaliidae)
9. Database of scientific illustrators, Gottlieb von Koch
10. Kinderspiele / von Gottlieb von Koch ; mit einem Nachwort der Verfassers für Eltern und Freunde der Kinder, Nürnberg, Stroefer 1897
11. Das Buch der Fabeln / zsgest. C. H. Kleukens. Eingel. von Otto Crusius , Leipzig, Inselverlag, 1913, p 182
12. Gottlieb von Koch, Naturwissenschaftler, Inspektor der Zoologischen Abteilung des Museums von 1875-1914, Künstler und Kinderfreund, und der Darmstädter Jugendstil : Sonderausstellung in der Zoologische Schausammlung vom 22.10.1976-30.1.1977 :

• German zoologists
• 1849 births
• 1914 deaths
• German sculptors
• German curators