Information About

Nicholai Miklukho-maklai




Miklukho-Maklai was born in a temporary workers camp near Novgorod , a son of a Civil Engineer working on the construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway . He attended a grammar school in Saint Petersburg , then went on to study at St. Petersburg University .

He travelled and studied widely in Europe , and became a close friend of the biologist Anton Dohrn , with whom he helped conceive the idea of "research stations" while staying with him at Messina , Italy .

Miklukho-Maklai left St Petersburg for Australia on the Schooner ''Vityaz''. He arrived in Sydney on 18 July, 1878 . A few days after arriving, he approached the Linnean Society and offered to organise a zoological centre. In September 1878 his offer was approved. The centre, known as the Maritime Biological Centre, was constructed by prominent Sydney Architect , John Kirkpatrick. This was the first marine biological research institute in Australia.

He visited Papua New Guinea on a number of occasions, and lived amongst the native tribes, writing a comprehensive treatise on their way of life and customs.

He married Margaret-Emma Robertson, daughter of the Premier Of New South Wales , John Robertson . In 1887 he left Australia and returned to St Petersburg to present his work to the Russian Geographical Society , taking his young family with him. Miklukho-Maklai was in poor health at this time and it was a trip from which he did not return. Despite treatment from Sergei Botkin , Miklukho-Maklai died of an undiagnosed Brain Tumour , aged 42, in St Petersburg. He was buried in the Volkovo cemetery, but left his skull to the St. Petersburg Military and Medical Academy.

Miklukho-Maklai's widow returned to Sydney with their children. Until 1917 the scientist's family received a Russian pension. The money was first allocated by Alexander III and then by Nicholas II .

The building of the Maritime Biological Centre was commandeered by the Australian Ministry of Defence in 1899 , as a Barrack s for Officer s. The Russian Ethnic community in Australia lobbied for the centre to be made into a historical landmark in memory of Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai's scientific work. In 2001 , the last military personnel left the building and the building was returned to the public. A bust of Miklukho-Maklai was unveiled to commemorate the occasion.

In the country of his birth, his life is commemorated through the name of the ''N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Sciences'' at the Russian Academy Of Sciences , Moscow.