August [Augustus] Heinrich Petermann was born on 18 April 1822 at Bleicherode, near Nordhausen, Germany. In 1839, he entered the Geographical Art-School in Potsdam where he specialized in cartography, and in 1845 was invited to Edinburgh to assist Dr. A Keith Johnston on an English edition of Berghaus' Physical Atlas. Moving to London in 1847, he pursued his career as a geographer and cartographer, advising on preparations for expeditions to Africa and to the Arctic, including the search expeditions for Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage Expedition. In 1854, Petermann became director of the Geographical Institute of Justus Perthes in Gotha, Germany, shortly afterwards becoming editor of the well-known Geographische Mittheilungen. He was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1860. Petermann was fund-raiser and organizer of the German Exploring Expedition of 1868 (leader Karl Koldewey), and the German Exploration Expedition, 1869-1870 (leader Karl Koldewey), believing that 'an open polar sea' would allow ships to penetrate toward the North Pole from east Greenland. He took his own life on 25 September 1878 at Gotha.
Published work Die erste deutsche Nordpolar-Expedition in Jahre 1868 (German) by Karl Koldewey and Augustus Petermann, Justus Perthes Gotha (1993) SPRI Library Shelf (3)91(08)[1868] The search for Franklin. A suggestion submitted to the British public by Augustus Petermann, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans London (1852) SPRI Library Shelf (41)91(091)[1847-1859 Franklin search] Bound Pamphlets
From the guide to the August Petermann collection, 1854-1876, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
