Robert Caspary

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Johann Xaver Robert Caspary (born January 29, 1818 in Königsberg , † September 18, 1887 on the Illwo manor in the Flatow district ) was an East Prussian , German botanist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Casp. "

Life

Tomb of Robert Caspary in Koenigsberg

Caspary first attended the Kneiphöfische Gymnasium in Königsberg and studied theology and philosophy at the University of Königsberg from 1837 to 1840 . Even during his studies, however, he also dealt with scientific and biological studies. Particularly interested him the Entomology (Entomology). He completed his theology studies in Königsberg with an exam and then went to the University of Bonn to study natural sciences, especially zoology. Influential teachers in this subject were Georg August Goldfuß (zoology), Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander (astronomy) and Ludolph Christian Treviranus (botany). In 1843 he became a member of the Fridericia Bonn fraternity .

In 1845 he took a job as a teacher at the Kortegan'schen Erziehungsanstalt in Bonn. As an educator in the service of an Elberfeld merchant, he traveled nine months to Italy (1847), from where he brought back a large collection of plants and animals. In 1848 he received his doctorate from the University of Bonn, where he immediately qualified as a professor .

Since he did not get a job, he then spent two and a half years in England , where he mainly devoted himself to research into marine and freshwater algae . After short trips to continental Europe, he was employed as a teacher in Pau in southern France for six months , from where he again brought a large collection of plants with him. In 1851 he became a private lecturer at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin , where he worked with the new professor, Alexander Braun . He later married his daughter.

In 1856 he became director of the herbarium and adjunct of the Bonn Botanical Garden as representative of Treviranus. In 1858 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1859 he followed the call of the Albertus University in Königsberg to the chair of botany. He was also director of the Königsberg Botanical Garden . In 1870/71 and 1872/73 he was rector of the Albertina .

He was a member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

After his death he was buried in the scholarly cemetery (Königsberg) .

meaning

Casparys conducted research in very many areas of botany; His focus was on floristry (especially of freshwater plants) and the systematics of the water lily plants (Nymphaeaceae) and the laurel plants (Lauraceae) as well as plant morphology . In the latter branch of botany, he mainly studied the growth of trees, was interested in their deviations in their formation, as well as in the structure of the vessels of plants.

The Caspary strip is named after him.

Caspary has also made a name for himself as a paleobotanist; in particular he has dealt with botanical inclusions in Baltic amber . Of his writings, the work The Angiosperms of Amber , published in 1886, is still one of the standard works in this field of research.

Honors

A plant genus Casparya Klotzsch from the slate family (Begoniaceae) was named after him .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Richarz: List of members of the Fridericia fraternity in Bonn (February 18, 1843 to autumn 1847) as well as the Arminia fraternity in Bonn (1847 to 1849) and the fraternity association Germania in Bonn (1843 to 1849). Bonn 1894, p. 9.
  2. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
  3. ^ Neumann-Redlin von Meding, E .: The scholars on the "Old Neurossgärter Friedhof", the Scholars' Cemetery in Königsberg. Königsberg Citizen Letter 2012; No. 80: 54-56
  4. ↑ R. Caspary: The angiosperms of amber. In: HR Göppert and A. Quantity: The flora of amber and its relationship to the flora of the tertiary formations and the present. Volume 2, Danzig 1886
  5. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Caspary, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Caspary, Johann Xaver Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1887
Place of death Illwo manor, Flatow district