Peter Ascanius | |
---|---|
Born | 1723 Aure in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. |
Died | 1803 Copenhagen, Denmark |
Citizenship | Norwegian |
Fields | biologist |
Academic advisors | Linnaeus |
Peter Ascanius (May 24, 1723 – June 4, 1803) was a Norwegian biologist.
He was born at Aure in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. He was a student of Linnaeus. He taught zoology and mineralogy in Copenhagen from 1759 to 1771, and later worked as a supervisor at the mines in Kongsberg and elsewhere in Norway. Among his published works was the five-volume illustrated Icones rerum naturalium. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1755 as a Foreign Member.
Ascanius first discovered the giant oarfish in 1772.