Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus

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Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus (also Frederick Adolph Wislizenus, born May 21, 1810 in Königsee , † September 23, 1889 in St. Louis , USA) was an American doctor and botanist of German descent. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Wisl. "

Life

Wislizenus' father was a Protestant pastor and was born the youngest of three children. After both parents died early, the children grew up with their mother's brother. He attended high school in Rudolstadt and, following his father, was supposed to study theology. However, he first began studying natural sciences at the University of Jena and later in Göttingen and Tübingen . During his studies he became a member of the Jenaische Burschenschaft Germania in 1830 and in 1831 the Burschenschaft Amicitia Würzburg , later the Germania zu Würzburg fraternity .

On April 3, 1833 Wislizenus was one of the participants in the Frankfurt Wachensturm . After the uprising was suppressed, he managed to escape from Germany, first to Strasbourg , from where he went to Zurich , where he obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1834.

He then emigrated to the United States to practice as a doctor in New York from 1835 . After only two years he moved to Mascoutah ( Illinois ) and started collecting plants. In St. Louis , where he lived from 1839, he made the acquaintance of the doctor and botanist George Engelmann and ran a medical practice with him until 1846.

Wislizenus married Lucy Crane in 1850, with whom he had several children. After many journeys and expeditions, including to his old home in Königsee , California and Panama , he retired in St. Louis in 1852. He was a member of the Academy of Science of St. Louis and the Missouri Historical Society . In the course of time his interest in atmospheric electricity increased, which he investigated using methods that were new at the time. Towards the end of his life, Wislizenus went blind, but continued to have literature read to him. After several years of blindness, he died on September 23, 1889 in the presence of his wife and children.

Honors

The plant genus Wislizenia Engelm is named after him . from the family Cleomaceae .

Fonts

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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 .

Web links

Wikisource: Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Wislizenus, Friedrich Adolph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wislizenus, Frederick Adolph; Wislizenus, Friedrich Adolphus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physician and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsee
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1889
Place of death St. Louis