Joseph Böhm (botanist)

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Joseph Anton Böhm , also Josef, (born March 13, 1831 in Groß Gerungs , † December 2, 1893 in Vienna ) was an Austrian botanist ( plant physiology ).

Life

Böhm attended grammar school and was a novice in the Canons' Monastery of St. Florian before he began studying natural sciences (especially botany) and medicine at the University of Vienna under great privation (he was penniless) . In 1856 he received his doctorate in Vienna. phil., completed his habilitation in botany in 1857 and obtained his doctorate in 1858. med. At the university he was an assistant to Franz Unger . In 1858 he became a teacher of natural history and goods science at the commercial academy in Vienna (permanent position in 1862) and also continued his botanical studies. In 1869 he became an associate professor in addition to his teaching position at the commercial academy. In 1870/71 he was on leave to attend theUniversity of Heidelberg to continue his studies, among other things with the botanist Wilhelm Hofmeister . In 1874 he became professor for plant physiology at the kuk Forstakademie Mariabrunn and was able to devote himself more intensively to his plant physiology studies. With the abolition of the academy in 1875 he moved to the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna . In 1878 he also became a full professor at the University of Vienna. In the same year he was rector of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences . In 1886 he fell ill with pneumonia and his health deteriorated as a result, among other things as a result of his use of mercury in his experiments. He is buried in Mariabrunn.

Services

At the time, Böhm refuted common views ( Julius Sachs and others) that water transport in plants would only take place in the cell walls . He saw the capillary forces as the cause of the rising of the plant sap , which was also controversial at the time.

He demonstrated that starch was produced in the chlorophyll grains of leaves even in the dark , i.e. independently of photosynthesis from glucose transported there (also artificially added) (1877). Further work concerned the physiological role of lime in plants and the causes of turgor . Due to his illness, he was no longer able to fully evaluate and publish extensive experiments on the respiration of plants.

In 1888 he became a member of the Leopoldina .

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ Member entry of Josef Anton Boehm at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 14, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Boehm, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Böhm, Joseph Anton; Bohm, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian botanist
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Great Gerungs
DATE OF DEATH December 2, 1893
Place of death Vienna