science

Pieter Bleeker

Pieter Bleeker is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pieter Bleeker rather than just read about it. In short: Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He was famous for the Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises, his monumental work on the fishes of East Asia published between 1862 and 1877.

Key takeaways

Pieter Bleeker belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pieter Bleeker to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pieter Bleeker from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He was famous for the Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises, his monumental work on the fishes of East Asia published between 1862 and 1877.

Life and work Bleeker was born on 10 July 1819 in Zaandam. He was employed as a medical officer in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army from 1842 to 1860, stationed in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). During that time, he did most of his ichthyology work, besides his duties in the army. He acquired many of his specimens from local fishermen, but he also built up an extended network of contacts who would send him specimens from various government outposts throughout the islands. During his time in Indonesia, he collected well over 12,000 specimens, many of which currently reside at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden. Bleeker corresponded with Auguste Duméril of Paris. His work in ichthyology and tropical medicine was recognised by two doctorates honoris causa (Leyden University, 1846; Utrecht University, 1849). After his return to the Netherlands in 1860, he started publishing the Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises, a comprehensive account of his studies done in Indonesia, featuring over 1,500 illustrations. It was published in 36 volumes between 1862 and his death in 1878. Between 1977 and 1983, the Smithsonian republished the work in 10 volumes. Bleeker published more than 500 papers on ichthyology, describing 511 new genera and 1,925 new species. He also worked in herpetology, describing at least 14 species of reptiles, most of them described in Reptilien van Agam. In 1855, he became correspondent of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, department Natuurkunde (then Natural Sciences), and in 1862 a member. In 1856, he was elected correspondent for the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. In January 1864 he received a French knighthood of the Légion d'honneur. He was president of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. Bleeker died on 24 January 1878 in The Hague.

Taxa named in his honor Fish named after him include:

Argyrops bleekeri Oshima, 1927 Bleekeriella leptaspis (Bleeker, 1862) is a species of sea catfish, which was described by Bleeker, and later moved to a monospecific genus. Chlorurus bleekeri, known commonly as Bleeker's parrotfish, is a species of marine fish in the family Scaridae. Hemiarius bleekeri (Popta, 1900) was named after Bleeker, who collected the first specimen. The Shark minnow Luciosoma bleekeri Steindachner, 1878 is named after him. Osteochilus bleekeri is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Borneo and Sumatra. The Stone loach Triplophysa bleekeri (Sauvage & Dabry de Thiersant, 1874)

Taxa described by him See Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker

See also Order (biology) Taxonomy (biology)

References

Further reading Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Bleeker", p. 28). P. Bleeker, Levensbericht in: Jaarboek, 1877, Amsterdam, pp. 5-159 (Autobiography of Bleeker with an introduction by Pieter Harting). Archived 2023-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch). Bleeker P, van Oijen MJ, Loots GM, van Limburg FJ (2009). "A precursor of the fish of the Indian Archipelago. Part 1: Siluri". Zoologische Mededelingen. 83: 1–317. Norman D, Whitehead PJ (1984). "The Bleeker/Günther letters and the sale of Bleeker specimens to the British Museum". Zoologische Mededelingen. 58: 295–312. Whitehead PJ, Boeseman M, Wheeler AC (1966). "The types of Bleeker's Indo-Pacific Elopoid and Clupeoid Fishes". Zoologische Verhandelingen. 84: 1–152.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pieter Bleeker

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pieter Bleeker claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pieter Bleeker before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pieter Bleeker ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pieter Bleeker

In research: Pieter Bleeker appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pieter Bleeker in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pieter Bleeker is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1819 births, 1878 deaths, 19th-century Dutch medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pieter Bleeker outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pieter Bleeker in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pieter Bleeker means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pieter Bleeker out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pieter Bleeker in simple terms?

Why does Pieter Bleeker matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pieter Bleeker?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pieter Bleeker.