Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen

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Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen , also Moriz , (born December 3, 1760 in Gießen , † November 30, 1806 in Darmstadt ) was a German scientist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Borkh. "

Life

Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen was the son of the French captain Hermann Johann von Borkhausen. This came from Alsace and served in the Royal French Regiment Nassau-Saarbrücken. He was wounded in a battle near Giessen, so he stayed there. Since the father died a few months before the child was born, Borkhausen's mother Justine Eleonora, the daughter of the Giessen stone decker Balthasar Schiefer, had to feed herself and the child on her own.

Borkhausen received private lessons in Latin. He attended the Gießen pedagogy and began studying law and cameralia at the University of Gießen at the age of 17, but was also interested in history and, above all, in the natural sciences. He began to read botanical works and to set up his own botanical plant collection and an entomological collection. Carl von Linné and John James Dillemus served him as role models .

After completing his studies, he took a position as tutor in the house of the bailiff Krebs in Gladenbach in 1781. During the four years that he spent in Gladenbach, he became friends with the doctor August Friedrich Adrian Diel , who was born there and who dealt intensively with pomological studies. He also maintained close contact with the forest master Ernst Friedrich Hartig (* 1773; † 1843), the father of the forest scientist Georg Ludwig Hartig , which inspired him to study forest science.

When the sons of the bailiff Krebs left to study in 1785, Borkhausen took a position as tutor to his former professor Ludwig Höpfner , who had been transferred to Darmstadt in 1781 as a judge of higher appeal, where he later became a secret tribunal advisor. At the same time, Borkhausen also took on legal work. In his free time he devoted himself to scientific studies and expanding his collections.

Borkhausen finally decided to devote himself exclusively to the natural sciences. He moved to Arheiligen near Darmstadt, accompanied by his mother. Here the Protestant pastor Karl Ludwig Gottlieb Scriba became his teacher, who had achieved great fame as a natural scientist and above all as an entomologist. Scriba owned a large entomological collection and an extensive library, which he made available to Borkhausen for his studies.

Due to his achievements in the natural sciences, the philosophy faculty of the University of Erlangen awarded him a doctorate on February 20, 1793, although Borkhausen had not asked for it. The sovereign appointed him by decree of April 20, 1793 as assessor at the regional economics deputation Darmstadt. His main task was to write a natural history of Hesse.

On May 20, 1796, Borkhausen was employed as an assessor at the Oberforstamt Darmstadt. On February 2, 1800 he was awarded the title of chamber councilor and in 1804 that of councilor at the Oberforstkollegium.

Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen was married to Amalie Philippine Andreatta Fabricius (* July 15, 1778 in Ulfa , † November 14, 1866 Darmstadt), the eldest daughter of the Giessen forest administrator and chief forester Georg Alexander Fabricius (* 1750, † 1813) , since October 20, 1798 ). The marriage resulted in four children, of which a daughter died in the year of her birth and a son died at the age of eleven.

Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen died on November 30, 1806 in Darmstadt after several blood attacks, ten days before the birth of his youngest daughter Henriette Ernestina Adelheid (* 1806; † 1889).

His widow married the librarian and botanist Johannes Hess (* 1786; † 1837) three years after his death . This was inspired by Borkhausen's extensive herbarium for botanical studies. Since he found little opportunity in Darmstadt, he suggested in 1814 that a botanical garden should be laid out on the area of ​​the drained Darmstadt castle moat.

Borkhausen's herbarium has been missing since the bombing raids on Darmstadt in 1944 .

Honors

In recognition of his achievements in the field of botany, Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen was made an honorary member of several scientific societies, including:

  • physical society in Jena
  • physical society in Göttingen
  • Regensburg Botanical Society
  • Gotha society for forest and hunting knowledge

Dedication names

The following plants were named after Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen:

  • Borckhausenia cava (L.) G.Gärtn., Synonym for the hollow lark spur ( Corydalis cava )
  • Kopsia borkhausenii Caruel 1884
  • Orobanche borkhausenii Andrz. ex better 1832
  • Rosa borckhausenii Steud. 1821
  • Rosa borkhausenii Tratt. 1823

The moth genus Borkausenia , which belongs to the family of the rotten wood moths (Oecophoridae) , was named in honor of Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen,

Works

The work Teutsche Ornithologie or Natural History of All Birds in Teutschland: in lifelike illustrations and descriptions , which was printed in Darmstadt between 1800 and 1817, consists of 22 booklets and names Borkhausen as the first author, although most booklets were only published after Borkhausen's death. Johann Conrad Susemihl , Johann Theodor Susemihl and Eduard Susemihl are listed as other editors .

  • Natural history of the European butterflies according to a systematic order. Frankfurt 1788–1794, 5 volumes.
  • Attempt to explain the zoological terminology. Frankfurt 1790.
  • Attempt of a forest botanical description of the wood species growing in the open air in the Hessen-Darmstädtische Lands, especially in the Upper County of Catzenellenbogen: for forest workers for self-instruction. Varrentrapp & Wenner, Frankfurt 1790.
  • Tentamen dispositionis plantarum Germaniae seminiferarum secundum novum methodum a staminum situ et proportione. 1792.
  • Botanical dictionary or attempt to explain the most distinguished terms and artificial words in botany. Giessen 1797, 2 volumes.
  • Theoretical-practical manual of forest botany and forest technology. Giessen 1800–1803, 2 volumes.
  • The plums are depicted according to nature and described botanically pomologically ( edited together with Friedrich Justinian von Günderrode ). 1804–1808, 6 booklets in octave format.
  • German ornithology or natural history of all birds in Germany. Frankfurt 1810.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Borkhausen, Moritz Balthasar. Hessian biography. (As of March 31, 2010). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Richard Heß:  Borkhausen, Moritz Balthasar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 160-163.
  3. ↑ a b c Christian Feuring: Mori [t] z Balthasar Bor [c] khausen - * December 3, 1760 Giessen, † November 30, 1806 Darmstadt. Plants in Hessen website of the Botanical Association for Nature Conservation in Hessen eV, accessed on March 20, 2016.
  4. ↑ Gottfried Gärtner, Bernhard Meyer, Johannes Scherbius: Economic-technical flora of the Wetterau. Vol. 3 (1), 1801, p. 17.
personal data
SURNAME Borkhausen, Moritz Balthasar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German natural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH to water
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1806
Place of death Darmstadt