City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

Eberhardt August Wilhelm von Zimmermann (August 17, 1743, Uelzen – July 4, 1815, Braunschweig) was a German geographer and zoologist.

He studied natural philosophy and mathematics in Leiden, Halle, Berlin and Göttingen, and in 1766 was appointed professor of mathematics and natural sciences at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig. One of his pupils was mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. From 1789 onward, he served as aulic councillor in Braunschweig.

During his career, he travelled widely throughout Europe — Livonia, Russia, Sweden, Denmark. England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. On his journeys, he conducted research of economic conditions and natural resources. He wrote Specimen Zoologiae Geographicae Quadrupedum (1777), one of the first works on the geographical distribution of mammals (zoogeography).

He was the author of works on a variety of subjects; such as mathematics, natural sciences, regional studies and the history of discovery. From 1802 to 1813, he published the Taschenbuch der Reisen (Handbook of travel).