Robert Keller (botanist)

Robert Keller (born September 24, 1854 in Winterthur ; † July 8, 1939 there ) was a Swiss teacher , rector and botanist .

biography

Keller was born in 1854 as the son of the Winterthur primary school teacher Johann Ulrich Keller. In 1872 he attained at the middle school of the city of Winterthur Matura . As a pupil he belonged to the Vitodurania middle school association, where he was nicknamed "Spiess". From 1873, Keller studied natural sciences and zoology in Zurich and Leipzig , before moving to the University of Jena as the last station , where he was a student of Ernst Häckel , among others . In Jena he also met his wife Anna Wilhelmine Neuenhahn, whom he married in 1880.

After receiving his doctorate in the fall of 1877, Keller began to work as a teacher of natural history and chemistry at the Winterthur girls' school at the beginning of the 1978/79 school year. From 1880 he worked as a teacher at the local high school and at the industrial school, one of his students was Gustav Hegi , who later dedicated his dissertation to him. From 1891 to 1916, Keller was the head of the city's higher schools. During his time as rector he was the initiator of some school reforms: He was concerned about the upgrading of natural history and during his time as rector, girls were also admitted to the municipal high schools and industrial schools. The introduction of the 40-minute lessons can also be traced back to his initiative. He influenced cantonal education policy as the Zurich Education Council from 1890 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1917, and as a member of the University Commission from 1891 to 1921. Keller gave up teaching in 1921, five years after his resignation as principal of the municipal schools.

In addition to his school and educational activities, Keller made a name for himself primarily as a botanist. From 1886 to 1935 he was the curator of the city's natural science collections. In 1884 he was also a co-founder of the Natural Science Society in Winterthur and shaped the association from 1888 to 1900 as its second president. Together with Hans Schinz , he was the author of the standard work «Flora of Switzerland», the publication first appeared in 1900 and was reprinted three times by 1923 and contained identification keys for over 3,000 native plant species. Other scientific publications by Keller dealt with blackberries (1919) and wild roses (1931). He also worked as a co-author on publications by his former student Gustav Hegi. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " R. Keller ".

In recognition of his botanical work, Robert Keller was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zurich in 1933. Andropogon kelleri , which grows in north-east Africa, is also a species of sweet grass named after him. This species, which belongs to the genus Andropogon , was first described by Eduard Hackel and Otto Stapf .

Keller died on July 8, 1939 in Winterthur. His estate is now in the possession of the Winterthur libraries .

politics

In addition to his seat on the Zurich Education Council and the University Commission, Keller was a non-party member of the Zurich Cantonal Council from 1887 to 1890 and was a member of the City Council of Winterthur from 1894 to 1898.

Publications

Flora von Winterthur, 1891-1896
Flora of Switzerland (four editions, together with Hans Schinz), 1900–1923
Overview of Switzerland. Rubi, 1919
Synopsis rosarum spontanearum Europae mediae, 1931

Web links

Heinrich Zoller: Keller, Robert. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Keller, Robert, teacher and rector, 1854–1939 in the Winterthur glossary.
Obituary for Robert Keller of the Swiss Society for Natural Sciences .
Author entry and list of the described plant names for Robert Keller (botanist) at the IPNI

Individual evidence

^ [[Peter Hauser (author) |]]: Directory of members of the generations 1864–1990. In: Alt-Vitodurania (Hrsg.): Festchronik 125 years Vitodurania. A souvenir book of the festivities of the 125th anniversary of Vitodurania from 8 to 12 September 1988 in and around Winterthur. Ziegler Druck- und Verlags-AG, Winterthur 1988, p. 79.
^ Jan-Peter Frahm, Jens Eggers: Lexicon of German-speaking bryologists . tape 1 , 1995, ISBN 3-8311-0986-9 , pp. 233 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 13, 2016]).
^ ^A ^b Peter Lippuner: How curiosity creates knowledge. Naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Winterthur, accessed on July 13, 2016 (The article was also published in the 2009 Winterthur Yearbook).
^ Andropogon kelleri. In: WD Clayton, KT Harman, H. Williamson: GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora. 2006.
↑ Umberto Quattrocchi: CRC World Dictionary of Grasses: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology . CRC Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8493-1303-5 , pp. 1981 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 13, 2016]).

personal data
SURNAME	Keller, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss teacher, rector and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 24, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH	Winterthur
DATE OF DEATH	July 8, 1939
Place of death	Winterthur

[1] [[Peter Hauser (author) |]]: Directory of members of the generations 1864–1990. In: Alt-Vitodurania (Hrsg.): Festchronik 125 years Vitodurania. A souvenir book of the festivities of the 125th anniversary of Vitodurania from 8 to 12 September 1988 in and around Winterthur. Ziegler Druck- und Verlags-AG, Winterthur 1988, p. 79.

[2] Jan-Peter Frahm, Jens Eggers: Lexicon of German-speaking bryologists . tape 1 , 1995, ISBN 3-8311-0986-9 , pp. 233 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 13, 2016]).

[ngw-3] A ^b Peter Lippuner: How curiosity creates knowledge. Naturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Winterthur, accessed on July 13, 2016 (The article was also published in the 2009 Winterthur Yearbook).

[4] Andropogon kelleri. In: WD Clayton, KT Harman, H. Williamson: GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora. 2006.

[5] Umberto Quattrocchi: CRC World Dictionary of Grasses: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology . CRC Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8493-1303-5 , pp. 1981 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 13, 2016]).