Georg Franz Hoffmann

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Georg Franz Hoffmann

Georg Franz Hoffmann (born January 13, 1760 in Marktbreit , † March 17, 1826 in Moscow ) was a German botanist , lichenologist and bryologist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Hoffm. "

Live and act

Hoffmann studied medicine from 1779, first in Herborn and from 1780 in Erlangen , where he received his doctorate in 1786. med. received his doctorate.

In 1789 he was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Erlangen. In 1792 he accepted a professorship for medicine and botany at the University of Göttingen. Hoffmann was also director of the Botanical Garden there, where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited him several times in 1801 . Goethe writes about these visits: " I visited Professor Hoffmann very often and became better acquainted with the cryptogams , who have always been an inaccessible province for me ."

Johannes Flüggé , who had questioned his botanical knowledge in earlier years, attacked him violently during his time in Göttingen and Hoffmann was ultimately also expelled from his position in Göttingen because of this criticism. In 1804 he accepted a professorship for botany at Moscow University.

Hoffmann was known, among other things, for his illustrated works on lichens and mushrooms. At the age of 25, for example, he received a prize from the Lyon Academy of Sciences for a thesis on the benefits of lichen in medicine and economics. In addition, he has made a name for himself in describing willows (genus Salix ) in the area of ​​higher plants .

Hoffmann has newly described several species, such as the mosses Riccia canaliculata , Riccia ciliata and Riccia bifurca as well as Orthotrichum cululatum . He also described numerous types of mushrooms for the first time, including the burn crust mushroom ( Kretzschmaria deusta ).

Memberships and honors

  • 1792 extraordinary member of the Göttingen Science Society
  • 1797 full member of the Göttingen Science Society
  • 1815 member of the Leopoldina
  • 1819 Russian State Council

The plant genus Hoffmannia Sw. from the family of the redness plants (Rubiaceae) is named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Mémoires sur l'utilité de Lichens . With Pierre J. Amoreux, Pierre Rémi François de Paul Willemet. Lyon 1785.
  • Historia salicum iconibus illustrata . Lipsia 1785.
  • Historia salicum . Leipzig 1785 ( digitized ).
  • Illustrations of the sponges . 2 volumes, Berlin 1790.
  • Hortus Gottingensis, quem proponit simulque orationem inchoandae professioni sacram indicit . Goettingen 1793.
  • Compendium Florae Britannicae . With James Edward Smith. Erlanga 1801.
  • Vegetabilia in hercyniae subterraneis collecta iconibus descriptionibus et observationibus illustrata . Frauenholz, Norimbergae 1811.
  • Genera plantarum umbelliferarum . Mosqua 1816.

literature

  • Renate Grumach (ed.): Goethe: Encounters and Talks , Volume V 1800-1805, Berlin-New York 1985
  • Gerhard Wagenitz : Goethe and botany . In: Elmar Mittler et al. (Ed.): The good head shines out everywhere - Goethe, Göttingen and science . Catalog for the exhibition from June 6 to August 29, 1999 in the Paulinerkirche, pp. 175–179, Göttingen 1999
  • Jan-Peter Frahm , Jens Eggers: Lexicon of German-speaking bryologists . In: Journal of moss research in Germany . Supplementary volume. Bonn J.-P. Frahm, c / o Botanical Inst. Of the Univ. Bonn 2005, ISBN 978-3-8311-0986-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erik Amburger database at the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies
  2. ↑ Goethe: Encounters and Conversations 1800-1805, p. 155
  3. ^ Lexicon of German-speaking bryologists, pp. 200f
  4. ↑ Wagenitz 1999, p. 175
  5. ↑ a b Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Class. Volume 3, Vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 116.
  6. ^ Member entry by Georg Franz Hoffmann at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann, Georg Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH Market wide
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1826
Place of death Moscow