Paul Günther Lorentz

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Paul Günther Lorentz

Paul Günther Lorentz , also known as Pablo Lorentz , (born August 30, 1835 in Kahla , † October 6, 1881 in Concepción del Uruguay ), known in South America and the Spanish-speaking area as Pablo Lorentz, was a German botanist who was mainly specialized in bryology , i.e. the collection and research of mosses . He is best known for his botanical collections in South America, where he collected more than a thousand species of vascular plants , mosses and lichens that were previously unknown to science . His botanical author abbreviation is " Lorentz ".

Life

Paul Günther Lorentz was the son of the local politician and pastor's son Heinrich Moritz Lorentz, who worked as a district judge in Kahla, Stadt schultheiß in Ronneburg , district administrator in Kahle and municipal council in Altenburg , and his wife Emma, ​​daughter of the Privy Councilor Karl August Schubart . In 1880 Lorentz married Johanna Franz.

Lorentz began studying theology in Jena and also attended botany courses with Matthias Jacob Schleiden . He continued his studies in Erlangen , where he also continued his botanical studies with Adalbert Schnizlein . As a candidate for the science of theology, he finished his theology studies in Altenburg in 1858 and then concentrated entirely on botany. For this purpose he went to Munich in the same year and studied with Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli at the Ludwig Maximilians University , where he received his doctorate in 1860 with his doctoral thesis on the biology and geography of mosses .

From 1860 to 1869 Lorentz worked in Munich and concentrated on the biology of mosses . In 1864 he became a private lecturer in botany and in 1870 he went to the newly founded natural science faculty of the University of Cordoba , Argentina, as professor of botany . From here he undertook a series of research and collecting trips to the Argentine hinterland. In 1874 he and a number of other scientists from Germany were fired for political reasons. He later became a high school professor at the Colegio Nacional in Concepción del Uruguay . From here, too, he carried out numerous collecting trips until his death. Lorentz died in Concepción del Uruguay in 1881.

His assistant in Cordoba was from 1873 Georg Hans Emmo Wolfgang Hieronymus .

plant

During his time in Munich from 1860 to 1869, Lorentz's research focused primarily on the history of development , anatomical systematics and geographical distribution of the mosses. Together with Wilhelm Philipp Schimper he founded the geography of mosses as a supplement to the already established plant geography and together with Ludwig Molendo (1833–1902) he carried out numerous collecting trips, especially to the Alps . Through his anatomical and developmental studies, he introduced the recording of a number of morphological criteria such as the leaf and stem cross-section into the systematic research of mosses.

The main work of Paul Günther Lorentz was in his numerous botanical collections, in which he collected over 1000 species new to science. He was the first botanist to undertake extensive and scientifically oriented trips in Argentina. In 1871/72 he traveled together with the geologist Alfred Wilhelm Stelzner (1840–1895) to the mountain regions from Tucumán and Catamarca to Laguna Blanca . In 1872/74 he traveled through the province of Jujuy , in 1879 through the pampas to the Río Negro and in 1881 in the Sierra Ventana near Bahía Blanca . His collections were edited by various experts such as August Grisebach (vascular plants) and Karl Müller-Halle (mosses); on his first two trips alone he collected more than 3,000 vascular plants, 567 of which were previously unknown to science. The new species also included 22 lichen and 480 deciduous moss species .

He was also the first to describe the vegetation areas of Argentina and to draw up a plant-geographical map of the country.

He is the first to describe the moss genus Juratzkaea Lorentz, named after the bryologist Jakob Juratzka , in 1866.

Appreciation

Paul Günther Lorentz is the namesake of the botanical garden Parque Botánico Andino "Paul Günther Lorentz" in San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca , Catamarca , in Argentina.

Fonts

  • Contributions to the biology and geography of mosses , Munich 1860 (doctoral thesis)
  • Moss studies, Leipzig 1864
  • Directory of European mosses , Stuttgart 1865 ( digital copy of the Real Jardín Botánico )
  • Baseline of the comparative anatomy of the moss . In: Yearbook for Scientific Botany 6, 1867; Pp. 863-466.
  • Studies on the anatomy of the cross-section of the moss , Berlin 1869
  • The vegetation conditions of the Argentine Republic . In: Richard Napp : The Republic of Argentina . Buenos Aires 1876; Pp. 86-149.
  • La vegetación de la prov. De Entre-Rios , 1978

supporting documents

Evidence cited

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ^ Homepage of the Parque Botánico Andino "Paul Günther Lorentz". Retrieved October 22, 2008.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lorentz, Paul Günther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lorentz, Pablo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Kahla
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1881
Place of death Concepción de Uruguay