Johann Pohl (1782 - 1834)

Johann Pohl

Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl was an Austrian and Czech scientist, botanist, naturalist, and traveler.

Pohl studied in Prague, earned a doctorate in medicine and practiced science, becoming one of the most prominent botanists in Bohemia. Consequently, he was invited on an expedition to Brazil. Johann Pohl arrived in Brazil in 1817 with the Italian botanist Giuseppe Raddi as part of a large scientific expedition sent by Francis I of Austria, and spent four years traveling through the states of Minas Gerais, Goias, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro, including some 30 rivers in the country. He collected thousands of plant specimens, as well as studying minerals and zoology, exploring gold and diamond mines, caves, and villages of local people.

After his return to Europe, Pohl served as curator of the Vienna Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Brazil in Vienna until his death. His extensive collections, including some 4,000 plant specimens, were housed here along with the expedition's other scientific collections.