He studied
mathematics and
natural sciences at the Universities of
Halle and
Berlin, afterwards working as an unpaid volunteer at the
Berlin Zoological Museum under
Jean Cabanis (1816–1906). In 1892, he was in charge of the department of
mammals at the museum, later becoming a
curator (1895), and in 1902, attaining the title of professor. In 1924, he was appointed second director at the museum.
During the years 1891–1893, he described 11
new species of
reptiles.[1] A species of
gecko, Hemidactylus matschiei (
Tornier, 1901), is named in his honor.[2] Matschie organized the fifth International Congress of Zoologists in Berlin and was for some years co-editor of the journal Natur und Haus.[3]
^"Matschie". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.
ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Matschie", p. 171).
^Andreas W. Daum, Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, pp. 367, 385, 408, 435, 501.