Friedrich Weber (physician)

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Friedrich Weber, portrait lithograph by Siegfried Detlev Bendixen (1828)

Friedrich Weber (born August 3, 1781 in Kiel ; † March 21, 1823 ibid) was a German physician, philosopher and botanist. Its botanical author's abbreviation is " F.Weber ".

Life

Friedrich Weber was a son of the physician Georg Heinrich Weber and his wife Philippine Christine, nee Wagemann. From 1799 he studied medicine and natural sciences at the University of Kiel. After completing his doctorate with an entomological thesis for Dr. phil he traveled to Paris with Christoph Heinrich Pfaff to study.

In Kiel Weber helped intensively to set up and expand the botanical garden that his father had created. In 1804 he was appointed adjunct of the Philosophical Faculty, and the following year he was appointed Associate Professor of Philosophy. In the same year he was promoted to Dr. med. PhD. In 1806 he became inspector of the Academic Hospital, in 1810 he took over the supervision of the Botanical Garden, in 1811 he became an associate professor of medicine and head of the Academic Hospital. In 1814 he had the facility renovated and expanded.

From 1812 Weber headed the Kiel vaccination center and took over the honorary chairmanship of the state examination commission for royal gardeners. In 1815 he was appointed full professor of medicine.

Act

After Daniel Matthias Heinrich Mohr's death , Weber focused more on practical medicine, but did not achieve any outstanding results here. As head of the vaccination center, he trained laypeople in smallpox vaccination. In the Danish Wohld, he vaccinated himself free of charge and found that the protective effect of the vaccination decreased after several years. In 1821 he made the suggestion to the medical council that revaccinations be carried out.

Weber was mainly interested in botany. He dealt almost exclusively with cryptogams , especially mosses. In 1807 he published a paperback on mosses and ferns. This contained a comprehensive description of all ferns, deciduous and liverworts known in Germany at the time. He did not take in appropriate plants in Schleswig-Holstein enough.

In 1803 Weber traveled to southern Sweden with Mohr. The following year he wrote an impressive travelogue with a list of all the plants, mostly thread algae , that they had found there. Together with Mohr, he planned a work on algae, which, however, was not realized due to Mohr's early death. Illustrations already made for this were later bought by King Christian VIII , who gave them away.

From 1804 Weber and Mohr published the “Archive for Systematic Natural History”. From 1805 the magazine was called "Contributions to Natural History". In 1815 Weber succeeded in proving that the lake bream herb could be found at Einfelder See . It was the first finding in the German flora.

In 1816 and 1820 Weber added a greenhouse to the botanical garden. In 1822, in “Hortus Kiliensis”, he described all the plants grown there in alphabetical order. He also wanted to depict the history of the garden, but did not complete this work due to his early death. He also worked as an experienced entomologist. His “Nomenclator entomologicus” appeared in 1795 , guided by Johann Christian Fabricius .

Memberships and honors

Weber was a member of the Medical Societies of Copenhagen, Paris and Avignon. He was a member of the Natural Research Societies in Berlin, Jena and Marburg, the Physical Societies in Göttingen and Heidelberg and the Pharmaceutical Society in St. Petersburg.

The algae genus Weberella Schmitz is named after him .

In 1819 Weber received a gift of 800 Reichstalers for his services to the Botanical Garden.

family

Weber married Wilhelmine Vehrsmann (* 1783) in Hanover on October 18, 1804, who allegedly came from Hanover and died on February 10, 1808 after a childless marriage.

On January 23, 1810 Weber married Elisabeth Charlotte Eilers (* 1785 in "Süchau", possibly Sichau ; † October 12, 1810 in Kiel) in Kiel. The couple had three daughters and three sons, including the physician Ferdinand Weber .

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 Weber  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1823
Place of death Kiel