Hi, Tweets

Do you know of Georg Wilhelm Stohler (my keyboard doesn't do the umlaut
over the "o")?? Anyway, Georg was born in 1709 in Nuremberg, Germany,
became a physician, then went to Russia to the Academy of Sciences in St.
Petersburg where he continued his personal studies of botany. The Russians
had problems pronouncing his name, so he changed it to Steller (with an "e" ).

In 1741, he went with Vitus Bering on an expedition from Kamchatka to
southern Alaska. On Kayak Island, just west of Sitka, he collected a blue
jay and in 1788, this jay was named the Steller's Jay. For his reward upon
returning to Bering's ship, Dr. Steller received a special luxury, a cup of
chocolate!

The narrative of his travels and his biography are most interesting. An
eider and a manatee also bear his name, and while Dr. Steller was certainly
a stellar person, his name was Steller! With an "e" . . .

Cheers, Diann
___________________________
Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
Bothell, WA 98021
mailto: tvulture at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/tvulture/