Richard Courtois

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Richard Joseph Courtois (born January 17, 1806 in Verviers , † April 14, 1835 in Liège ) was a Belgian botanist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Courtois ".

Live and act

Courtois was one of 13 children of a cloth manufacturer in Verviers. In 1811 he met the botanist Alexandre Louis Simon Lejeune , who promoted him and made him enthusiastic about botany. He was an excellent student and, thanks to financial support from a businessman, began his studies in Liège at the age of fourteen. In 1825 he received his doctorate with distinction in medicine (Conspectus topographiae physico-medicae provinciae Leodiensis). At the same time he continued to work with Lejeune on botany and in 1825 became deputy director of the botanical garden of the University of Liège . In 1828 he married. Since his salary was insufficient for a family, he translated German medicine books (by Johann Baptist Friedreich, among others ). During this time he also developed pulmonary tuberculosis. In 1830, when the university was reorganized, he hoped to receive the chair from Heinrich Moritz Gaede (Henri Gaede), who taught botany, comparative anatomy, geology and mineralogy, but returned to his chair a little later. Shortly before his death in 1835, Courtois was supposed to become a professor of botany, but died before taking office.

Together with Lejeune he wrote a Flora of Belgium. His natural history of the province of Liège (subject of his dissertation) appeared in 1828.

In 1833 he became a member of the Leopoldina . He was a member of the Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany in Ghent, the Flora Society of Brussels, the Horticultural Society of Antwerp and was secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society in Liege.

Honors

In honor of Courtois, the genera Courtoisia Rchb are named . from the family of Polemoniaceae and Courtoisina Soják and Indocourtoisia Bennet & Raizada from the family of the sour grass family (Cyperaceae).

Fonts

  • with Lejeune: Compendium florae belgicae, 3 volumes, Liège 1828 to 1836, Biodiversity Library
  • with Lejeune: Choix des plantes de la Belgique, 20 volumes, 1825–1830
  • Recherches sur la statistique physique, agricole et médicale de la province de Liége, 3 volumes, Verviers: Ch. Beaufays, 1828.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Member entry of Richard-Joseph Courtois at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Courtois, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Courtois, Richard Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian botanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Verviers
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1835
Place of death Liege