Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in
Amsterdam in the
Dutch Republic. From his father,
Jacob Temminck, who was
treasurer of the
Dutch East India Company with links to numerous travellers and collectors, he inherited a large collection of bird specimens. His father was a good friend of
Francois Levaillant who also guided Coenraad. Temminck's ''Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systématique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe
(1815) was the standard work on European birds for many years. He was also the author of Histoire naturelle générale des Pigeons et des Gallinacées
(1813–1817), illustrated by Pauline Knip. He wrote Nouveau Recueil de Planches coloriées d'Oiseaux'' (1820–1839), and contributed to the mammalian sections of
Philipp Franz von Siebold's
Fauna japonica (1844–1850). Temminck was the first director of the
National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, from 1820 until his death in 1858. In 1824, he was elected to the
American Philosophical Society. In 1831, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1836 he became member of the Royal Institute, predecessor of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. == Works ==