Eduard Heinrich Graeffe

Who was Eduard Heinrich Graeffe?

Eduard Heinrich Graeffe or Gräffe was a Swiss zoologist and naturalist. As an entomologist, he specialised in Hymenoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera.

From around 1860, Graeffe was in the employ of Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy, a wealthy shipping magnate from Hamburg. Graeffe was hired in order to organize Godeffroy's natural history collection as a scientific museum, the "Museum Godeffroy". From 1862 to 1873, he was based in Samoa, conducting scientific research and collecting specimens from throughout the South Pacific. Among his writings of the expedition was: Reisen im Innern dei Insel Viti Levu.

From 1875 to 1898, he worked as an inspector at the Zoological Station in Trieste. The Fiji Whistler is named in honor, as is Arthrocormus graeffii, a botanical species described by German bryologist Karl Müller.