Theobald Fischer (31 January 1846 Kirchsteitz – 17 September 1910)
Biography
He was educated at the universities of Heidelberg, Halle, Bonn and Vienna and at first devoted himself to history. A traveling tutorship directed his attention to geography, and he visited many parts of
Europe in the pursuit of this study, but especially the
Mediterranean lands, including North Africa (Atlas lands), e.g. the
Sahara (1886),
Morocco and
Algeria (1888). The “Mediterranean region,” an example in the study of regional geography, is a conception the world owes to Fischer: his thesis for the rank of
Privatdozent in the University of Bonn (1876) was entitled
Beiträge zur physischen Geographie der Mittelmeerländer (Contributions to the physical geography of the lands of the Mediterranean), and his most important publications are a collection of
Mittelmeerbilder (Mediterranean pictures) and his work on the Mediterranean peninsulas of
Europe in
Alfred Kirchhoff's
Allgemeine Länderkunde.
[A complete citation for the last mentioned work is: Fischer, Theobald, “Die südosteuropäischen Halbinsel”, in Alfred Kirchoff, ed., Unser Wissen von der Erde. Allgemeine Erdkunde und Länderkunde. 3: Länderkunde von Europa (Second part, second half). Leipzig: G. Freytag, 1893, p. 65.]
He held professorships of geography at the University of Kiel (1879-1883) and at University of Marburg from 1883 until his death. In addition to numerous contributions to scientific periodicals, and the works mentioned above, he also published Raccolta dei mappemondi e carte nautiche del XIII. al XVI. secolo (10 atlases, containing 79 leaves, 1881).
Notes
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Balkanologie Footnote 10 gives a very complete citation of Fischer's contribution to Kirchoff's work (visited 26 October 2010).
