Johann Friedrich Ruthe

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Johann Friedrich Ruthe , also Johannes , (born April 16, 1788 in Egenstedt near Hildesheim , † August 24, 1859 in Berlin ) was a German senior teacher , botanist and entomologist who developed into a specialist in Hymenoptera and Diptera in this field .

With the support of Heinrich Friedrich Link (1767-1851) he began his studies in 1811 at the Humboldt University in Berlin . Here he was taught by Karl Rudolphi (1771–1832) and Martin Lichtenstein (1780–1857), among others . After completing his studies, he became a teacher at various schools in Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder .

Life

"Johannes" was the second oldest son of nine children of Maria Theresia Ludewig (1762–1784) and the eldest of her husband Ludwig Ruthe (~ 1750–1808). The family lived in the rural area around Hildesheim.

schooldays

The primary school in the monastery village of Egenstedt did not meet his father's expectations. When he rose to the position of "pig master" and animal healer in 1797 and moved from the Marienburg domain to the official residence in Steuerwald, he brought Johann Friedrich over to him to have the interim pastor, Father Breitenbach OFMCap, prepare him for a high school. In 1804 the Dominican Friedrich Kather took over the pastoral office and the teaching assignment. He left a negative image of Catholicism on his student Johannes . Nevertheless, Ruthe was soon able to switch to the Episcopal Gymnasium Josephinum. Through the intercession of Breitenbach, he was exempt from school fees and could live free of charge in the boarding school, the Johannishaus. Since 1807, the Principality of Hildesheim belonged to the Kingdom of Westphalia after being occupied by Prussia . Graduates of the Josephinum were registered by conscription . After the drawing of lots, Ruthe had to become a soldier.

Westphalian soldier and deserter

In April 1809, Ruthe left Hildesheim as a Westphalian soldier. Due to miserable and degrading treatment, the recruits began to think of desertion on the march via Braunschweig and further east . Ruthe found an opportunity to break away in Magdeburg. Instead of fleeing to Prussian territory, where he would not have been subject to persecution, he returned to his hometown on remote routes.

He sought Obdacht with his family, but had to always be on the run from knitting riders hide most of the time in the local forests. Before the cold season began, he hiked to Bödexen with his mother's brother . There he hoped to find close relatives of his late father. However, the family members did not take the high risk of hiding a deserter.

During the winter, Ruthe found shelter in the city of Hildesheim.

Here he was captured by a gendarme. On the transport to his unit, who threatened to be shot, he escaped and escaped to safe Berlin in 1809.

The course of the Wars of Independence meant that he could go to Hildesheim under the protection of the Braunschweig Army, which was returning victoriously. The French Westphalia had lost influence there. So the idea occurred to the bishop to ask for financial support for a planned study in order to be able to realize his wish to become a veterinarian, which he had had since childhood. In 1811 he returned to Berlin disappointed. He starved and starved until he found modest income opportunities in craftsmen families with paperwork and as a teacher for children.

Natural history studies and teaching

Teaching at the newly founded university in Berlin had started a year earlier.

Although destitute and physically weakened, enrolled Ruthe as stud. med. at the Humboldt University in Berlin . His teachers Rudolphi and Link recognized the situation of their, in a psychological crisis, but extremely eager pupil and helped him.

Through the influence of the Hildesheim botanist Link , Ruthe found a paid private tutor position.

His studies, initially documented in anatomy and veterinary medicine, gradually shifted from herbal medicine to general botany. At first only occasionally working as a teacher to earn a living, he trained as a natural history teacher.

Ruthe got a job at the Plamann School in Berlin. Then he changed his place of work and residence to Frankfurt / Oder. He was married to a "Märklerin". A son, Johann Gustav Rudolf Ruthe, was born in 1823.

Ruthe later returned to Berlin. From 1829 to 1842 he taught botany and zoology at the Klödenschen Gewerbeschule . One of his students, Theodor Fontane , remembered extensive excursions and wrote: “Ruthe was a magnificent person ...” In 1842 Johann Friedrich Ruthe retired for health reasons.

One of his sons, Johann Gustav Rudolf (* 1823 Frankfurt / Oder, † 1905 Swinoujscie) followed in his father's footsteps. He became a veterinarian and botanist.

Honors

According to Johann Friedrich Ruthe, the mushroom genus is Ruthea Opat. and the plant genus Rutheopsis A. Hansen & G. Kunkel from the umbelliferae family (Apiaceae).

Works

literature

  • Ernst Wunschmann:  Ruthe, Johann Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 47-49.
  • Martin Lowsky: Johann Friedrich Ruthe. Deserter and vagabond in the Kingdom of Westphalia, scholar in Berlin . In: H. Joachim Kusserow, Guide Erol Öztanil (Ed.): "With a steel-sharp blade". Contributions to Johann Heinrich Oppermann . Wehrhahn Verlag, Hanover 2012, pp. 121–140.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ P. Ascherson: Johannes Friedrich Ruthe, Obituary In: Negotiations of the Botanical Association for the Province of Brandenburg and neighboring countries, 1st issue, pp. 211–216, Berlin 1859
  2. ↑ 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 .
  3. ^ Johann Friedrich Ruthe at World Cat Identities, accessed on August 21, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Ruthe, Johann Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist and entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Egenstedt near Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1859
Place of death Berlin