 carsten niebuhr or karsten niebuhr (17 march 1733 lÃ¼dingworth â 26 april 1815 meldorf, dithmarschen) a german mathematician, cartographer, and explorer in the service of denmark, is renowned for his participation in the 1761 danish arabia expedition. ==biography== niebuhr was born the son of a small farmer in lÃ¼dingworth (now a part of cuxhaven, lower saxony) in what was then bremen-verden. he had little education, and for several years had to do the work of a peasant. he was interested in mathematics, however, and managed to obtain some training in surveying. in 1760 one of his instructors suggested that niebuhr join a scientific expedition being mounted by frederick v of denmark to egypt, arabia and syria. niebuhr studied mathematics for a year and a half before the expedition set out, and also managed to acquire some knowledge of arabic. the expedition sailed in january 1761, and, landing at alexandria, ascended the nile. proceeding to suez, from where niebuhr made a visit to mount sinai, in october 1762 the expedition sailed to jeddah, and then journeyed overland to mocha. here, in may 1763, the expedition's philologist, von haven, died, and shortly afterwards its naturalist peter forsskÃ¥l also died. the remaining members of the expedition visited sana, the capital of yemen, but suffered from the climate and returned to mocha. niebuhr seems to have preserved his own life and restored his health by adopting native dress and eating native food. from mocha the expedition continued to bombay, the expedition's artist dying en route and the surgeon soon after landing. niebuhr was now the only surviving member. he stayed in bombay for fourteen months and then returned home by way of muscat, bushire, shiraz and persepolis. his copies of the cuneiform inscriptions at persepolis proved to be a key turning point in the decipherment of cuneiform, and the birth of assyriology. he also visited the ruins of babylon (making many important sketches), baghdad, mosul and aleppo. he seems also to have visited the behistun inscription in around 1764. after a visit to cyprus he made a to
1733_births 1815_deaths Explorers_of_Arabia Explorers_of_Asia German_cartographers German_explorers German_mathematicians Members_of_the_Royal_Swedish_Academy_of_Sciences People_from_Cuxhaven_(district) People_from_the_Electorate_of_Hanover