Gustav Fritsch

Gustav Theodor Fritsch (5 March 1838 – 12 June 1927) was a German anatomist, anthropologist, traveller and physiologist from Cottbus.

Fritsch studied natural science and medicine in Berlin, Breslau and Heidelberg.

He is known for his work with neuropsychiatrist Eduard Hitzig (1839–1907) involving the localization of the motor areas of the brain.

Along with his medical studies, Fritsch was also known for his ethnographical research in southern Africa (1863–66), during which time he traveled from Cape Town through the Orange Free State, Basutoland, Natal and Bechuanaland.

He also performed zoological research in Anatolia, and in 1881/82 studied electric fish in regions of the eastern Mediterranean.

Gustav Fritsch:
by Rudolf Dührkoop (c.1900).
Research trip to Isfahan to observe the Venus transit of 1874, Fritsch third from left