1752-1840

German Anthropologist, Anatomist and Naturalist

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach had a primary role in founding the science of modern anthropology, was a pioneer in the field of comparative anatomy, and was a respected researcher and renowned teacher. Blumenbach advocated the unity and equality of the human race as a single species and directly attacked any use of anthropology as a means to promote social and political racial discrimination or abuse. He viewed the human species as a product of its natural history, and his publications provided a reliable survey of human geographical distributions and characteristics. Blumenbach wrote the first scientifically objective anthropology and comparative anatomy textbooks, both of which had tremendous influence on the course of development of these sciences for several generations.

Blumenbach's father was an assistant headmaster of a grammar school in Gotha, Germany, his mother's father was a city high official...