Oswald Heer

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Oswald Heer
Birthplace of Oswald Heer in Niederuzwil
Oswald Heer with his colleagues Arnold Escher von der Linth (left), professor for geology in Zurich and Peter Merian (center), professor for physics, chemistry, geology and paleontology in Basel
Bust in the old botanical garden in Zurich

Oswald Heer (born August 31, 1809 in Niederuzwil , † September 27, 1883 in Lausanne , resident in Glarus ) was a Swiss paleontologist , botanist , paleobotanist and entomologist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Heer ".

Live and act

Heer, in a wooden house in st. Gallic Untertoggenburg, grew up as the son of a pastor from the age of two in Glarus and moved with his parents to Matt in the Sernftal in 1817 . There he was able to pursue his interest in nature, collected plants and insects, climbed the mountains of the Glarnerland and kept a diary about the weather conditions in the Sernftal from an early age.

In autumn 1828 he enrolled at the University of Halle to study theology , true to family tradition . In addition to his theological studies, he attended natural science lectures by the well-known entomologist Ernst Friedrich Germar , Christian Ludwig Nitzsch ( zoology ) and Kurt Sprengel ( botany ). In Halle, Heer had contacts with fellow students who were also interested in science, such as the later explorer of the island of Java , Franz Junghuhn, and the Hungarian mycologist Karl Kalchbrenner .

In the spring of 1831 Heer returned to Switzerland, passed the theological examination in St. Gallen and returned to Matt as “verbi divini magister” - as a pastor who can be elected for every Reformed parish in the service of the divine word.

In the years that followed, Heer researched the entire Swiss and the neighboring Tyrolean Alps, primarily to study the world of plants and insects. As a mountaineer, he has not only climbed the high peaks of the Glarnerland up to Glärnisch and Hochstock many times, but has also gone down in Alpine history for his first ascent. The Piz Linard , at 3,413 m the highest elevation of the Silvretta , was conquered for the first time on August 1, 1835, he climbed the Piz Palü in the Bernina (3,912 m) on August 12, 1835 together with Gian Marchet Colani .

After he was commissioned as a conservator in 1832 to organize the rich insect collection of the Zurich merchant Heinrich Escher-Zollikofer (1776-1853), he got in touch with the naturalists there and decided to embark on a career in the natural sciences. In 1834 he completed his habilitation at the University of Zurich , which had been founded a year earlier, and became a private lecturer in botany and head of the Zurich Botanical Garden. In 1835 he was appointed associate professor of botany and entomology, and in 1852 he was promoted to full professor. From 1855 he was full professor for taxonomic botany at the Polytechnic Zurich (the predecessor of the ETH ). In 1882 he withdrew from his university teaching activities.

In his lectures he dealt with special botany, pharmaceutical and economic botany, and later also the plants of the prehistoric world (paleobotany). There were also lectures on entomology, the special natural history of beetles and insects from the prehistoric world.

His multi-day botanical excursions to the Alps, which Heer undertook from 1855 to 1870 mostly together with the geologist Arnold Escher von der Linth , were extremely popular . To this end, he distributed his students a separately printed booklet with self-composed, humorous texts on the then well-known song melodies. In it 'homo botanicus' is compared with the bee; Because both strive for the colored flowers, only the botanist becomes very thirsty through this hike and longs - especially on rainy excursions - for a drink made from hops or the fine juice pressed from the grapevine.

Heer is considered to be one of the founders of the paleontology of the tertiary flora and fauna as well as the plant geography of the Alps. He maintained contact with various famous scientists, including Charles Darwin , who personally sent him his controversial book " The Origin of Species " with a handwritten dedication. This copy has been preserved and contains numerous critical marginal notes. Heer rejected Darwin's theory of descent . The trained theologian believed in a change of species by the hand of a Creator.

Oswald Heer described many genera and species of plants and insects for the first time. So he is u. a. First descriptor of the Triassic fern Symopteris helvetica (HEER, 1877) and the Triassic insect genus Chauliodites HEER 1864 with the type species Chauliodites picteti HEER, named in honor of François Jules Pictet , 1864 as well as the other species Chauliodites zinkeni HEER, 1864 named in honor of Carl Friedrich Jacob Zincken . Legnophora girardi HEER 1864 from the red sandstone of Trebitz at Wettin named Oswald Heer as an insect in honor of Heinrich Girard , who had appropriated to him this copy. Anton Handlirsch identified this fossil as the wing fruit of a conifer during a follow-up examination.

Heer had numerous students, including the botanists Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli , Johannes Theodor Schmalhausen and Carl Schroeter .

From 1850 to 1868 he was a member of the Zurich Cantonal Council. In addition to his position as professor for both universities, he was director of the Botanical Garden in Zurich. In 1862 he was accepted into the American Philosophical Society . From 1876 he was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg . In 1877 he was awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . On January 1, 1879 ( registration number 2206 ) he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . He was admitted to the Académie des Sciences as a corresponding member on January 24, 1881.

Honors

Heer-Land on Svalbard was named after him. Also the plant genus Heeria Meisn. from the sumac family (Anacardiaceae).

Since 2015, under the leadership of the Swiss Paleontological Society, the Oswald Heer Prize has been awarded every two years to honor scientifically outstanding work by scientists who may not be more than 35 years old at the time of application.

Fonts

Heer's first major botanical work was his dissertation, which he wrote at the age of about 25 and which was about the vegetation of the southeastern canton of Glarus. This work was the first monograph on plant geography from the area of ​​the Swiss Alps.

In "The insect fauna of the tertiary formations of Oeningen and Radoboy" he described 464 fossil insects, previously 100 had been known. With the three-volume “Flora tertiaria Helvetiae”, in which he listed 720 previously unknown fossil plants on Swiss territory, he established his reputation as a paleobotanist far beyond Switzerland. His main work is the seven-volume "Flora fossilis arctica - The fossil flora of the polar countries". In the book “Die Urwelt der Schweiz”, published for the first time in 1865, Heer presented the geological past of the country in a generally understandable way. This work was widespread in Switzerland; today it would be called popular scientific literature.

  • Editor (with Julius Froebel ): Mittheilungen from the field of theoretical geography . 277 pages, Orell Füssli and Compagnie , Zurich 1834 ( Google Books )
  • Editor (with Julius Froebel): Mittheilungen from the field of theoretical geography . First volume, 598 pages, Orell Füssli and Compagnie, Zurich 1836 ( archive )
  • The vegetation conditions of the south-eastern part of the Canton of Glarus; an attempt to derive the plant-geographical appearance of the Alps from climatological and soil conditions. In: Communications from the field of theoretical geography, first volume, Orell Füssli and Compagnie, Zurich 1836, pp. 279–468 ( archive )
  • with Johannes Jacob Hegetschweiler : Flora of Switzerland . Ms. Schulthess , Zurich 1840 ( e-rara )
  • with Johann Jakob Blumer : The canton of Glarus, described historically, geographically and statistically from the oldest times to the present . Historical-geographical-statistical painting of Switzerland, VII, Huber and Comp., St. Gallen and Bern 1846 ( archive )
  • The insect fauna of the tertiary formations of Oeningen and Radoboj in Croatia (3 volumes, 1847, 1849 and 1853):
    • The insect fauna of the tertiary formations of Oeningen and Radoboj in Croatia. First part: beetles. Wilhelm Engelmann , Leipzig 1847 ( archive )
    • The insect fauna of the tertiary formations of Oeningen and Radoboj in Croatia, second part: grasshoppers, lacewings, venus, butterflies and flies. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1849 ( archive )
    • The insect fauna of the tertiary formations of Oeningen and Radoboj in Croatia. Third part: rhynchotes. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1853 ( archive )
  • Flora tertiaria Helvetiae. The tertiary flora of Switzerland. (3 volumes, 1855, 1856 and 1859):
    • Flora tertiaria Helvetiae. The tertiary flora of Switzerland. First volume. Cryptogams, gymnosperms and monocotyledons. J. Wurster and Comp. , Winterthur 1855 ( e-rara )
    • Flora tertiaria Helvetiae. The tertiary flora of Switzerland. Second volume. The apetal dicotyledons. J. Wurster and Comp., Winterthur 1856 ( e-rara )
    • Flora tertiaria Helvetiae. The tertiary flora of Switzerland. Third volume. The gamopetal and polypetal dicotyledons. J. Wurster and Comp., Winterthur 1859 ( e-rara )
  • About the fossil calosomes . In: Program of the Confederation. polytechnic school for the school year 1860/61 or the first half of the year (from October 15, 1860 to March 24, 1861). Orell, Fuessli and Comp., Zurich 1860, pp. I – X, 1 plate ( archive )
  • Contributions to the insect fauna of Oeningen. Coleoptera . Heirs Loosjes, Harlem 1862 ( Google Books )
  • with William Pengelly : On the Lignite Formation of Bovey Tracey, Devonshire. Taylor and Francis, London 1863 ( Archives )
  • About the fossil cockroaches. In: Quarterly journal of the Natural Research Society in Zurich, 9, issue 4, Zurich 1864, pp. 274–302 ( archive ) PDF with board: ( PDF )
  • The plants of the stilt houses . Zürcher & Furrer, Zurich 1865 ( archive )
  • The primeval world of Switzerland. 2 editions ( Friedrich Schulthess , Zurich 1865 and 1883)
    • The primeval world of Switzerland. Friedrich Schulthess, Zurich 1865 ( Google Books )
    • The primeval world of Switzerland. Second subscription edition, Friedrich Schulthess, Zurich 1883 ( archive )
  • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries (7 volumes, 6th volume, 2 sections, 1868 to 1883):
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar lands includes the fossil plants discovered in North Greenland, Melville Island, Banksland, Mackenzie, Iceland and Spitsbergen. With an appendix on petrified timbers of the arctic zone by Dr. Carl Cramer . Friedrich Schulthess, Zurich 1868 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Second volume, containing: 1. Bear Island fossil flora; 2. Flora fossilis Alaskana; 3. The miocene flora and fauna of Svalbard; 4. Contributions to the Fossil Flora of North Greenland. Wurster & Comp., Winterthur 1871 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Third volume, containing: 1. Contributions to the coal flora of the arctic zone; 2. The chalk flora of the arctic zone; 3. Supplements to the miocene flora of Greenland; 4. Survey of the miocene flora of the arctic zone. J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1875 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Fourth volume, containing: 1. Contributions to the fossil flora of Spitzbergen; with an appendix: Overview of the geology of the Eisfiord and the Bellsund by Prof. AE Nordenskiöld ; 2. Contributions to the Jura flora of Eastern Siberia and the Amurland; 3. About the fossilized plants from Andö in Norway. J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1877 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Fifth volume, containing: 1. The miocene flora of the Grinnell country; 2. Contributions to the fossil flora of Siberia and the Amurland; 3. Primitiæ Floræ fossilis Sachalinensis; 4. Novaya Zemlya fossil plants. J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1878 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Sixth volume. I. Section, containing: 1. Supplements to the Jura flora of Siberia; 2. Supplements to the fossil flora of Greenland; 3. Contributions to the miocene flora of Northern Canada; 4. Research on fossil woods from the arctic zone by Dr. Carl Schroeter . J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1880 ( archive )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Sixth volume. Part II, containing: The first part of the fossil flora of Greenland. Flora fossilis Greenlandica. The fossil flora of Greenland. First part, containing: 1. The flora of the comic stories; 2. The flora of the Atane layers. J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1882 ( e-rara )
    • Flora fossilis arctica. The fossil flora of the polar countries. Seventh volume, containing: The second part of the fossil flora of Greenland. Flora fossilis Greenlandica. The fossil flora of Greenland. Second part, containing: 1. The flora of the Patoot strata; 2. The tertiary flora of Greenland; 3. On the fossil insects of Greenland; 4. General remarks; 5. On the storage conditions of the coal and fossil formations on the west coast of Greenland, by KJV Steenstrup ; 6. On the marine animal fossils of North Greenland, by P. de Loriol . J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1883 ( e-rara )
  • Flora fossilis Alaskana. Fossil flora of Alaska. Stockholm 1869 ( Archives )
  • Bear Island fossil flora. Stockholm 1871 ( Archives )
  • Contributions to the fossil flora of Svalbard. Based on the collections of the Swedish expedition from 1872 to 1873 . Stockholm 1876 ( Archives )
  • Flora fossilis Helvetiae. The pre-world flora of Switzerland . J. Wurster & Comp., Zurich 1877 ( e-rara )
  • Contributions to the miocene flora of Sakhalin. Stockholm 1878 ( Archives )
  • Contributions to the fossil flora of Sumatra. In: Memoranda of the Swiss Society for the Entire Natural Sciences, Volume XXVIII, Abth. I, 1879
    • Contributions to the fossil flora of Sumatra. H. Georg, Basel, Geneva and Lyon 1881 ( archive )

literature

Web links

Commons : Oswald Heer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anton Handlirsch: The fossil insects and the phylogeny of recent forms. A handbook for paleontologists and zoologists. 1. Delivery with 9 plates, Verlag Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1906, p. 406 ( archive )
  2. ↑ Member History: Oswald Heer. American Philosophical Society, accessed September 26, 2018 .
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter H. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 24, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]


personal data
SURNAME Army, Oswald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss paleontologist, botanist and entomologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederuzwil
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1883
Place of death Lausanne