Rolf Singer

Rolf Singer (born June 23, 1906 in Schliersee , † January 18, 1994 in Chicago ) was a German mycologist. He was one of the most influential and productive figures in mycology in the 20th century. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Singer ".

biography

The son of the animal and genre painter Albert Singer attended elementary school in Schliersee and high school in Pasing , Munich and Amberg . He dealt with mushrooms even before his Abitur and published his first mycological work from 1922, including his first monographic study on Central European Deaf in 1923 . Singer first studied at the University of Munich , where he obtained a diploma in chemistry . In 1928 he moved to the University of Vienna , where he was the last student of Richard Wettstein with his second monographic treatment of the genus Russula as a doctoral thesis. phil. received his doctorate. In Vienna, Singer was able to take part in two Caucasus excursions organized by the Academy of Sciences in Vienna , the results of which he documented in two larger publications. In addition, Singer was involved in the first ascent of the 4475 meter high Giultschi on this occasion .

During the Nazi era , he emigrated to Barcelona , where he held an assistant professorship at the Autonomous University . At the instigation of the German government, he was persecuted by the Spanish authorities and fled to France in 1934. In Paris he received a scholarship at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle . He then worked from 1936 to 1941 in Leningrad as a scientist at the Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . During this time he undertook numerous excursions to Siberia , the Altai Mountains and Karelia .

From 1941 teaching and study stays in the USA followed. He spent seven years at Harvard at the Farlow Herbarium, first as a research assistant, then as assistant director and - after the death of David Linder - as director. During this time Singer received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Florida and accepted a teaching position at the University of Virginia .

In 1948 Rolf Singer left Harvard to accept a professorship at the National University of Tucumán in Argentina . In 1961 he became a professor at the University of Buenos Aires . Study visits to Chile and Brazil followed . During his time in South America, Singer and his wife and daughter Heide assembled lavish collections of mushrooms.

In 1968 he received a call to the Field Museum of Natural History (short: Field Museum) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and worked there, interrupted by two research stays in Lausanne (1970-1971) and Manaus (1976-1978), until his Retired and remained attached to the museum until his death.

plant

Singer's work still shapes the modern taxonomy and systematics of the higher Hymenomycetes . In his main work The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy , which has been revised and updated several times, it becomes clear that Singer viewed the genus as a basic taxonomic unit and, from his point of view, the species play a lesser role in the systematic analysis. He himself understood his work as a monograph of the genres and always protested against the approach of practicing taxonomy in relation to small regions, since in his opinion this would lead to an excessive fragmentation of the genres. Consequently, he researched the fungal flora in as many countries as possible and understood a region to mean an entire continent. With his research trips he gained an overview of the diversity of the mushroom genera like no other mycologist before him.

Based on his own findings and the type material available from his studies , he succeeded in describing a number of new genera, the majority of which were not fragmentations of already described taxa. Among other things, Singer renamed 86 genera and described over 2460 species and subspecies from 222 genera.

In addition to the taxonomy, Singer also dealt essentially with the phylogeny of the Hymenomycetes. So he came to the conclusion that the cap mushrooms can be derived from hypogean gasteromycetes and that many forms, mostly classified as aphyllophorales , had developed from leaf mushrooms by reducing their characteristic morphological features. He based his results on microscopic features, among other things, and thus turned away from the previously widespread approach of relating the relationship of fungi to purely macroscopic features.

Singer also dealt with ecological aspects of mushroom science, even if these services were less in scope than those in taxonomy and phylogeny. He has published important work on ectotrophic mycorrhiza . Some of his more than 440 publications also deal with areas such as ethnomycology and mushroom cultivation . Singer's work has appeared in nine languages.

Familiar

His wife Martha (Mimi) Kupfer (born December 15, 1910 in Vienna, † January 8, 2003 in Encinitas , California ), whom he had met during his studies in Vienna, was a sculptor and supported her husband's scientific research by helping him accompanied on his numerous expeditions. She was a volunteer at the Field Museum until his death. From 1997 until her death, she lived with her daughter near San Diego .

Honors

The mushroom genera Singera Batt are named after him . & JLBezerra , Singerella Harmaja , Singeriella Petr. and Singeromyces M.M. Moser .

Works

The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy (4th edition, 981 pages) published 1986. Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein. ISBN 3-87429-254-1 .
Mushrooms and Truffles. Botany, Cultivation and Utilization , Koeltz Scientific Books. ISBN 3-87429-258-4

literature

Meinhard Moser : Dr. Rolf Singer 70 years. Journal of Mushroom Science 42 (A): 127–128. Schwäbisch Gmünd 1976.
Martha Singer: Mycologists and Other Taxa , J. Cramer, Braunschweig, 1984, 120 pages. ISBN 3768212432
GM Mueller, and QX. Wu: Mycological Contributions of Rolf Singer: Field Itinerary, Index to New Taxa, and List of Publications , Fieldiana Botany New Series 38. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. 1997, 124 pages.
Heinz Clémençon: Rolf Singer. Journal of Mycology, Volume 60 (1): 328-332. Schwäbisch Gmünd 1994

Individual evidence

↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Singer, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German mycologist
DATE OF BIRTH	June 23, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH	Schliersee
DATE OF DEATH	January 18, 1994
Place of death	Chicago

[Burkhardt_2018-1] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .