Forster, Johann George Adam (1754 - 1794)

Summary

George Forster was a writer, naturalist, traveller and revolutionary. In his early years he was proficient in several languages and translating written works at a young age. He continued to do so throughout his life. In 1772 Forster joined James Cook's second voyage in H.M.S. Resolution as assistant to his father, naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster. On this journey significant explorations were made in the Southern and Pacific Oceans. After returning to England the Forsters published on the flora they had observed, one of the most important early works on the plants of the regions through which they had travelled, Characteres generum plantarum quas in itinere ad insulas maris australis (1776). Relations between the Johann Forster and Cook soured over the publication of the narrative of the voyage: George's account appeared six weeks before that of Cook. This work became one of the most popular travel books of its time, and contributed to the ethnology of Polynesian peoples. After the voyage, Forster returned to Europe, teaching in Kassel and Vilnius. In 1788 he became Head Librarian at the University of Mainz. He continued to publish on botany and ethnology, and translated books on travel and exploration. Forster works were noted for the range of topics he covered (and which included information on the British settlement in New South Wales) and the quality of his writing. When French republican troops invaded Mainz in 1792 Forster became involved in politics. He went to Paris in March 1793 only to find he could not return to Mainz.

Details

Chronology

1766

Life event - Moved to England with his family

July 1772 - July 1775

Career position - Draftsman and assistant to Johann Reinhold Forster, H.M.S. Resolution under the command of James Cook

1776 - 1794

Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London

1779 - 1784

Career position - Teacher of natural history, Collegium Carolinum, Kassel, Prussia

1784 - 1787

Career position - Professor of natural history, University of Vilna, Poland

1788 - 1793

Career position - Head Librarian, University of Mainz, Prussia

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
• Johann Georg Adam Forster and Johann Reinhold Forster - Records, 1772 - 1775, MS 051; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Johann Georg Adam Forster - Records, 1778 - 1785, A4142; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Johann Georg Adam Forster - Records, 1778 - 1790, MS 4244; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• Joseph Banks - Records, 1745 - 1820, MS 9; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• Joseph Banks - Records, 1745 - 1814, MS 989; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, Melbourne, 2012, https://www.eoas.info/exhibitions/basser/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Forster, George, A voyage round the world in His Britannic Majesty's sloop Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5, 2 vols (London: B. White, T. Cadell & P. Elmsly, 1777). Details
• Forster, George, A voyage round the world in His Britannic Majesty's sloop Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5, 2 vols (London: B. White, T. Cadell & P. Elmsly, 1777). Details
• Forster, Georgio, Florulae insularum australium prodromus (Gottingae: Typis Joann Christian Dieterich, 1786), 103 pp, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/41812#page/3/mode/1up. Details
• Forster, Joannes Reinhold and Forster, Georgius, Characteres generum plantarum quas in itinere ad insulas maris australis, collegerunt, descripserunt, delinaerunt, annis MDCCLXXII-MDCCLXXV (London: B. White, T. Cadell & P. Elmsly, 1776), 150 pp, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4448. Details
• Goldstein, Jürgen: translated by Janusch, Anne, Georg Forster, voyager, naturalist, revolutionary (Chicago: Chicago university Press, 2019), 264 pp. Details
• Hoare, Michael E., The tactless philosopher: Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-98) (Melbourne: Hawthorn Press, 1976), 419 pp. Details
• Nicolson, Dan H. and Fosberg, F. Raymond, The Forsters and the botany of the second Cook voyage (1772 - 1778) (Ruggell, Liechtenstein: A. R. G. Gantner Verlag, 2004), 759 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Bodi, Leslie, 'Forster, Johann Georg(e) Adam (1754-1794), writer, traveller and revolutionary' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966), pp. 402-403. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/forster-johann-georg-adam-2056. Details
• Dippel, Horst, 'Conflicting Anthropological Concepts: Georg Forster and Johann Reinhold Forster on New Zealand' in Ferdinand Hochstetter and the Contribution of German-Speaking Scientists to New Zealand Natural History in the Nineteenth Century, Braund, James, ed. (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2012), pp. 29-46. Details
• Jefcoate, Graham, 'Johann Georg Adam Forster, 1754-1794' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Edited Books

• Hoare, Michael E. ed., The 'Resolution' Journal of Johann Reinhold Forster, 1772-1775, 4 vols (London: Hakluyt Society, 1982), 873 pp. Details
• Thomas, Nicholas and Berghof, Oliver, assisted by Newell, Jennifer. eds, A Voyage Round the World, by George Forster, 2 vols (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000). Details
• Weber, Therese and Watson, Jeanie eds, Cook's pacific encounters: the Cook-Forster Collection of the Georg-August University of Gottingen (Canberra: National Museum of Australia, 2006), 110 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Ackernecht, Erwin H., 'Georg Forster, Alexander Humboldt and ethnology', Isis, 46 (2) (1955), 83-95, https://www.jstor.org/stable.227120. Details
• Bodi, Leslie, 'Georg Forster: the 'Pacific expert' of eighteenth‐century Germany', Historical Studies - Australia and New Zealand, 8 (32) (1959), 345-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/10314615908595136. Details
• Braund, J. N., 'Die Königin der südlichen Welt'? Georg Forster und Neuseeland', Georg-Forster-Studien, 11 (2006), 239-56. Details
• Britten, James, 'The Forster herbarium', Journal of botany British and foreign, 23 (1885), 360-8, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33745#page/7/mode/1up. Details
• Britten, James, 'The Forster herbarium', Journal of botany British and foreign, 23 (1885), 360-8, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/33745#page/7/mode/1up. Details
• Carolin, R. C., 'J. R. and J. G. A. Forster and Their Collections', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 88 (1963), 108-111. Details
• Dressler, Stefan, 'Johann Reinhold und Georg Forster: zwei deutsche Natuforscher auf Kapitan Cooks zweiter Weltumseglung zur Erforscher der sülichen Hemishpare', Palmengarten sonderheft, 35 (2001), 19-46. Details
• Edwards, Phyllis I., 'Sir Joseph Banks and the botany of Captain Cook's three voyages of exploration', Pacific studies journal, 2 (1) (1978), 20-43, https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol2/iss1/4. Details
• Grapes, Rodney, 'First reports of in-situ "jade" (pounamu) in New Zealand: Johannes and George Forster (1777, 1778; 1783), James Hector (1863), Arthur Dieseldorf (1901), west coast Maori tradition', Journal of the Historical Studies Group, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 70 (2021), 22-42. Details
• Hoare, M. E., ''Cook the Discoverer': an Essay by Georg Forster, 1787', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 1 (4) (1969), 7-16, https://www.publish.csiro.au/hr/HR9690140007. Details
• Iredale, T., 'George Forster's Paintings', The Australian Zoologist, 4 (1925), 48-53. Details
• Iredale, T., 'J. R. and G. Forster, Naturalists', Emu, 37 (1937), 95-99. Details
• Palma, Ricardo L., 'Two bird lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) collected during Captain Cook's 2nd voyage around the world', Archives of natural history, 18 (2) (1991), 237-47. Details
• Rosove, Michael H., 'The folio issues of the Forsters' Characteres generum plantarum (1775 and 1776); a census of copies', Polar record, 51 (6) (2015), 611-23. Details
• St John, Harold, 'The date of publication of Forster's Characteres generum plantarum and its relation to contemporary works', Naturaliste canadien, 95 (1971), 561-81. Details
• Stearn, William T., 'The botanical results of Captain Cook's three voyages and their later influence', Pacific studies journal, 1 (2) (1978), 147-62. https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol1/iss2/7. Details
• Stearn, William T., 'The botanical results of Captain Cook's three voyages and their later influence', Pacific studies journal, 1 (2) (1978), 147-62. https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol1/iss2/7. Details
• Whitehead, P. J. P., 'The Forster collection of zoological drawings in the British Museum (Natural History)', Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), historical series, 6 (4) (1978), 25-47. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q58062. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/59389169. Details
• 'Forster, Georg (1754-1794)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-824979. Details

Reviews

• Forster, George, A Voyage Round the World, edited by Nicholas Thomas and Oliver Berghof, assisted by Jennifer Newell (2000)
  Dawson, Ruth, Pacific Circle Bulletin, 6, (2000), 25-27. Details

See also

• Cook, James; edited by Beaglehole, J. C., The Journals of Captain James Cook on his voyages of discovery, 4 vols (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1968). Details
• George, Alex S., Australian botanist's companion (Kardinya, W.A.: Four Gables Press, 2009), 671 pp. Details
• Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Australian botanists:- (a) general; (b) New South Wales', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 42 (1908), 60-132. Details