Ernest Wilczek

Ernest Wilczek (born January 12, 1867 in Laupen , † September 30, 1948 in Lausanne ) was a Swiss botanist and pharmacist . His botanical author's abbreviation is “ Wilczek ”. He worked in the fields of vascular spore plants , mycology and seed plants .

Life

Origin, education and doctorate

Wilczek was the son of the industrialist Alois Wilczek and Wilhelmine Wilczek, nee Trefzer. His father Alois Wilczek founded a factory for cardboard boxes in Freiburg im Üechtland in 1870 . Wilczek first attended a German Protestant school, then the St. Michael College in Freiburg in Üechtland. He graduated from school in 1885 with the Matura (equivalent to the Abitur in Germany).

Wilczek has been interested in botany since childhood. In 1895 he had already set up a local herbarium . His urgent wish was to study botany. His parents had little money, which forced him to earn a living as soon as possible. So he began an apprenticeship at the Lilienkron pharmacy in Zurich, which he completed in 1887. During his apprenticeship he attended, with the consent of his boss, botanical lectures and excursions at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich with Professors Jakob Jäggi (1829-1894) and Carl Schroeter .

Wilczek did an internship at the Grandjean pharmacy in Lausanne , where he met Louis Favrat (1827-1893). Then he returned to Zurich to his old boss, who needed him. In 1887 Wilczek's father became seriously ill, suffered great material losses and could no longer pay for his son's university studies. Wilczek managed to borrow a large amount of money, he returned to ETH Zurich and continued his studies. He finished his studies in the shortest possible time, worked on the side to finance it and lived very frugally. He studied pharmacy at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich . In 1890 he completed his studies with a diploma.

His professors, who knew Wilczek's tense financial situation, got him a job as a research assistant to Professors Friedrich Gottlieb Stebler and Schroeter. Wilczek received his doctorate from Carl Schroeter in 1892 with a thesis on the subject of contributions to the knowledge of the structure of fruit and seeds of the Cyperaceae .

Profession and positions

Wilczek initially had the idea of opening a pharmacy in the country and devoting himself to his botanical studies on the side. When he was offered a position at the University of Lausanne , he hesitated at first, but then accepted.

In 1891 Wilczek founded the "Thomasia" alpine garden (Jardin alpin de Pont de Nant), a botanical garden at an altitude of 1260 m with 3000 alpine plants. From 1892 to 1902 Wilczek was an associate professor of botany and from 1898 to 1902 for pharmacognosy at the University of Lausanne . From 1902 to 1934 he was a full professor of systematic botany, plant anatomy and pharmacognosy. Wilczek received the Knight of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his work on botanical excursions on French territory.

Wilczek held the following offices:

1895 to 1934 director of the laboratory for systematic botany. From 1899 it was called the Laboratory for Systematic Botany and Microscopy.
1895 to 1938 director of the Botanical Museum of the Canton of Vaud in Lausanne
1910 to 1934 director of the pharmacy school
Wilczek was also a member of the board of directors and a member of numerous companies, such as President of Murithienne in the canton of Valais from 1895 to 1896 .

Botanical excursions

Wilczek had a diploma as a mountain guide from the Swiss Alpine Club . On Sundays during the semester, he carried out botanical excursions with his students and other interested parties in the Lausanne area. During the semester break, Wilczek organized larger excursions with two or three students to the Italian and French Alps . His favorite areas were the Aosta Valley , Dauphiné , Lautaret , Lake Como and the Bergamasque Alps . In 1898 Wilczek went on an expedition to the Andes and in 1913 to Corsica . He took part in Emile Burnat's expeditions to the Maritime Alps with John Isaac Briquet . From 1931 to 1937 he was a member of René Maire's expeditions to Algeria and Morocco .

family

Wilczek married Sophie-Eveline Huth in 1898. His wife died in 1936. With what she left behind, she set up a fund to support the university's botanical museums and laboratories. Wilczek himself founded such a fund.

Honors

The mushroom genus Wilczekia Meyl is named after him . with the only species, Wilczekia evelinae , so named in honor of his wife. More than 200 species of plants were named after Ernest Wilczek.

Publications (selection)

L'influence du climat sur la végétation dans les Alpes , Swiss Forestry Journal = Journal forestier suisse, Volume 50 (1899), online
Note floristique sur le vallon des plans , Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, Volume 45 (1909), online
Contribution é la flore Suisse , Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, Volume 45 (1909), online
Note on the geographie botanique du versant internal de l'arc alpin , Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, Volume 46 (1910), online
On the subject of Gentiana acaulis L. , Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles, Volume 46 (1910), online
Alpine and arctic flora and vegetation: la flore des haies en Valais et principalement à Zermatt , publications of the Geobotanical Institute Rübel in Zurich, volume 3 (1925), online
Un nouvel hybride d'Achillea , reports of the Swiss Botanical Society = Bulletin de la Société Botanique Suisse, Volume 48 (1938), online

Web links

obituary
Author entry and list of the described plant names for Ernest Wilczek at the IPNI

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Jean-Louis Moret: Ernest Wilczek. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 13, 2015 , accessed November 18, 2018 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Obituary during negotiations of the Swiss Natural Research Society, Volume 128 (1948). Retrieved November 18, 2018.
↑ Ernest Wilczek: Contributions to the knowledge of the structure of fruit and seeds of the Cyperaceae , Thèse Un. Zurich, Bot. Centralblatt 51, 129–138, 193–203, 225–233, 257–267, 1892.
↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

personal data
SURNAME	Wilczek, Ernest
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wilczek, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss botanist and geobotanist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 12, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH	Laupen
DATE OF DEATH	September 30, 1948
Place of death	Lausanne

[VitaHLS-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Jean-Louis Moret: Ernest Wilczek. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . January 13, 2015 , accessed November 18, 2018 .

[Nachruf-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Obituary during negotiations of the Swiss Natural Research Society, Volume 128 (1948). Retrieved November 18, 2018.

[3] Ernest Wilczek: Contributions to the knowledge of the structure of fruit and seeds of the Cyperaceae , Thèse Un. Zurich, Bot. Centralblatt 51, 129–138, 193–203, 225–233, 257–267, 1892.

[Burkhardt_2018-4] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .