This paper reviews the second edition of a biography of Alexander Middendorf (1815-1894) - a prominent naturalist and a scientific traveller, a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The biography was produced in co-authorship by two scholars from Russia and Estonia. It sheds a new light not only on this important scientist (who is not a familiar figure for a non-specialist audience) but also on the whole community of the Baltic naturalists and travellers who played an important role in the exploration of nature and natural resources in the Russian empire in the nineteenth century.