Gerd Hermann Heinrich (7 November 1896 in Berlin, Germany – 16 December 1984 in Farmington, USA) was a German entomologist and ornithologist known for his studies of parasitic Hymenoptera of the Ichneumonidae family and for the description of several bird species in Celebes, Dutch East Indies.
Early life and education
Heinrich was born on 7 November 1896 in Berlin. He was the son of a physician, Hermann Heinrich. His mother, Margarethe von Tepper-Ferguson, was the heiress of a 1,344 ha farm at Borowke, between Poznan and Gdańsk, Poland. Heinrich grew up at Borowke which, prior to 1918, was in West Prussia. He was educated at home by a tutor until age eight and became fluent in Polish, German and Latin. In 1914, Heinrich graduated primus omnium from the Askanische Gymnasium in Berlin. Heinrich planned a career in medicine, but his interest was in natural history, especially insects. He sought the advice of the curator of entomology at the Museum für Naturkunde and was guided towards study of parasitic wasps of the family Ichneumonidae, a large, diverse, and at that time, taxonomically poorly known group of insects. Heinrich's education was interrupted by the onset of hostilities of World War I. He enlisted in the German army as a cavalryman fighting on the Eastern front and earned the Iron Cross he then transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and became a pilot. After the war, Heinrich returned to Borowke, married a local girl, Annaliese Machatchek and lived there with his family.
Career
Europe
In 1927, Heinrich made an expedition to Mount Elbrus in Northern Persia. From 1930 to 1932, he visited the island of Sulawesi (Celebes) in Indonesia, including the Latimodjong mountains, Menkoka mountains, and Minahasa and the Molucca Islands including Halmahera and Batjan. From 1932 to 1937, Heinrich studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin and in 1932, he published a travelogue about Celebes. In 1934, Heinrich published his first major work, Die Ichneumoninae von Celebes (1934). In 1935, he made an expedition to the Balkan Mountains and the Rhodope Mountains in South-Eastern Europe. In 1938, he published the results of processing his collection of materials of the Ichneumoninae of Madagascar in Les Ichneumonides de Madagascar (1938).
In 1934, René Malaise, the Swedish entomologist, had organised a zoological expedition to the northeastern parts of Burma. The material he collected was sent to Heinrich for identification and classification. The abundance of bizarre, luxuriant, and unknown forms in this collection was so fascinating that Heinrich made his own expedition to the Chin Hills of Burma in 1937 and 1938.
World War II
In 1939, at the onset of hostilities in World War II, Heinrich's work was once again interrupted by war. Reluctantly, Heinrich enlisted in the German army, aware that for a Pole to not do so could be fatal. In 1941, as the Russians pushed the Eastern front through Poland, Annaliese and the children fled westward. By the end of 1943, Heinrich did have a large monograph on oriental Ichneumoninae prepared for publication but as the front line approached, Heinrich soldered his monograph into a metal box, and secretly buried it in a dry place in the forest. He sent another copy to his friend, the physical chemist Max Vollmer.
Henirich and his family lived in a small forester's hut in Hahnheide Forest from 1945 until 1951, when they emigrated to the United States. Postwar Europe was a difficult place for academics. Heinrich contacted zoological organizations in every corner of Europe but not one of them had the funds for publication of his monograph. Heinrich did receive the sponsorship of the ichneumonologist, Henry K. Townes, Jr. to emigrate.
America
In 1952 and 1953, Heinrich took part in a zoological expedition to Mexico. Between the years 1953 and 1963, he participated in expeditions to Africa, mainly to collect birds and mammals for Yale University, the University of Kansas, and the Field Museum of Natural History. During this time, he expanded his collection of ichneumon flies. Between 1953 and 1955, Heinrich participated in an expedition to Mount Moco and Mount Soke, Angola, West Africa. In 1957 and 1958 Heinrich returned to West Africa. From 1961 to 1963 he took part in an expedition to Tanganyika, Mount Meru, the Usambara mountains, the Uluguru Mountains, the Livingston range and Mount Rungwe and the Ufipa Plateau in Tanzania and Rhodesia. In 1963, Heinrich visited South Africa.
Heinrich received partial support from the Canadian Department of Agriculture to complete the seven volume work Synopsis of Nearctic Ichneumoninae Stenopneusticae (1962).