Biography
The Russian traveler and the ethnographer Nikolai Miklukho-Maclay was engaged in his interesting business in the 19th century, when traveling on land and water was a matter of troublesome and often unpredictable. Yes, and regions for research, the scientist voted not the most accessible - studied residents of Australia, Oceania and New Guinea, and its discoveries were not exhausted by demographic descriptions. Miklukho-Maclay was asked by moral and ethical issues and tried to defend the rights of the indigenous population of distant islands.Childhood and youth
The traveler was born on July 5, 1846 in the Novgorod province, but after a month later the family together with a newborn baby moved to St. Petersburg, where his father Nikolai Ilyich received a appointment to the railway department. Because of the work of the head of the family, Miklukhi was still repeatedly moved, and his wife Ekaterina Semenovna Becker, meanwhile, gave birth to children. Kolya had three brothers and sisters.
The parents of the scientist belonged to the nobility, and it is difficult to speak about nationality: they had Russian, German and Polish roots. Despite the fact that the Father worked hard and hardly undermined the health, sick tuberculosis in the service, the material situation of the family was difficult. The problem aggravated after the death of Nikolai Ilyich in 1857, when his widow and heirs were left without pensions and savings. Mother tried to earn money with drawings, and some small savings inserted into stocks.
The initial education of children was engaged in coming teachers and governess, thanks to which Miklokhi was traded by German and French. As a result, only on these subjects in the gymnasium Nikolai had good estimates, for all the others he received a triple at best. Classes The boy missed and even remained a couple of times for the second year, the reason for which there were problems with the health and enthusiasm of the young man outsiders. For example, public protests for participation in which he was even detained at the age of 15.
Nikolai did not finish the gymnasium and decided on the freestressor in the St. Petersburg University, where he was not delayed because of participation in student unrest. As a result, Miklukha left to Germany, where he studied at the Philosophy of the University of Heidelberg University, and then in Leipzig and Ian Universities, where he began to study medicine, astronomy and agriculture.
Money was barely enough for the payment of housing and studies, however, the young man was mastered with passion and perseverance, thanks to which the attention of the scientific leader of Ernst Geckel was noticed. Going to the expedition to the Canary Islands, he invited a talented student with him. This was the first research journey of Miklukhi, where he assisted the head in the study of the fauna of the Atlantic and in the process even contributed to the biology, opening a new type of limestone sponge.
Personal life
Nikolay has always been interested in the opposite sex and romantic relationships started, while still a student in Germany. However, serious changes in personal life have been outlined in Australia, where he met the daughter of the governor of the new South Wales Margaret Robertson Clark. The bridesmaid parents were not delighted with the choice of her daughter: the groom was distinguished by weak health, idealistic temper, did not have a state, and also intended to take away the girl in distant Russia.
However, despite the fact that during the re-marriage, Margaret lost a solid rent, which he received on the will from the first husband, she agreed to engage in the Russian traveler, and a wedding took place on February 27, 1884.
The difference in religion also did not become an obstacle to the conclusion of the Union, in which two sons were born, Alexander and Vladimir. The Australian branch of the descendants of the ethnographer, the great-grandfather and the greatness of which live in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberre.
When the work of the research station Nikolai Nikolayevich in the new South Wales was suspended, he transported the family to Russia, however, the diseases were so pushed his health that his wife soon became a widow. Margaret Miklukho-Maclay did not want to stay in a stranger country and at the end of 1888 returned to Australia, having previously understood with the archives and heritage of her husband. Emperor Alexander III paid a woman the opposite journey and secured her lifelong pension in a solid amount.
Science and expedition
The first long journey that glorified Miklukho-Maclay began in 1870, when he arrived at the Vityaz military ship with an expedition to New Guinea. Having lived on the island for more than a year, the ethnographer studied everyday life, the morals and customs of Papuans, who managed to conquer their respect and confidence.He did not only with a detailed description of Melanesians, but also raised the problem of human race, proving that residents of distant islands are full representatives of humanity, and not the transitional stage of monkeys on the way to Homo Sapiens. The slave worker seemed to be a scientist unacceptable.
Anthropological and ethnographic research Nikolai Nikolayevich continued in the Philippines, in the lands of Oceania and Indonesia, but it was repeatedly returned to a new Guinea. In Australia, the scientist was engaged in the construction of a zoological station, which studied the animal world of the mainland. As a result, in distant exotic lands, the Russian traveler spent time more than in his homeland.
Death
For his short life, Miklukho-Maclary suffered not one serious illness, including repeated inflammation of the lungs, pleurisy, neuralgia, rheumatism and malaria. Attacks of the latter pursued him from youth until the end of days. By 40, Nikolai Nikolayevich was noticeably weakened, lost and experienced permanent pain. He tried to work, however, by the beginning of 1888 he could no longer do without morphine.
The death of the traveler was preceded by torment: bronchitis and pneumonia were added to insomnia, edema, vomiting and disorders of the musculoskeletal system. April 2, the scientist did not. The cause of death was established only in the 20th century: when the museum of anthropology and ethnography was transferred to the museum and ethnography in 1938, he conducted an examination that found a cancer in jaws.
The ethnographer was buried on the literal view of the Volkovsky cemetery of St. Petersburg. He remained in history as a wide profile naturalist, which at the same time contributed to geography, biology, anthropology, geology, oceanography and other related areas of science. The photo of the researcher decorate the walls of school offices, and his biography launched books and films.
Memory
- Miklukho-Maclay personally, according to the right of the first researcher, called his name to the northeast coast of New Guinea
- Makley River River in Astrolabia Bay
- The name Miklukho-Maclay named the Bay of the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica (Wilx land)
- Asteroid 3196 Maklaj (Maklaj)
- Monuments of scientist installed in Okulovka (Novgorod region), Malina, Sevastopol, Jakarta
- Miklukho-Maclay Streets exist in Moscow and Madanga (Papua New Guinea)
- The newly founded village near Cape Garagasi in 2017 officially received the name Miklukho-Maclay
- Miklukho-Maklai motor ship
- The feature film "Miklukho-Maklai". Director A. E. Reasonable
- The feature film "Coast of His Life". Director Yu. M. Solomin
- Cartoon "man from the moon"
- Music "Equator"