Walter Zimmermann (botanist)

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Walter Max Zimmermann (born May 9, 1892 in Walldürn ; † June 30, 1980 in Tübingen ) was a German biologist and botanist. His botanical author abbreviation is " W. Zimm. "

Life

In 1910 Zimmermann began studying natural sciences at the TH Karlsruhe , and from 1911 he studied at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau . In 1912 he moved to the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin and the University of Munich . In Munich he heard lectures from Richard Hertwig , Karl von Frisch , Gustav Hegi and Otto Renner, among others . From 1913 and after his military service, he was again enrolled at the University of Freiburg. Influential teachers there were Franz Theodor Doflein and Alfred Kühn as well as his later doctoral supervisor Friedrich Oltmanns .

From 1925 Zimmermann was a private lecturer at the University of Tübingen and in 1929 became an associate professor.

During the National Socialist era , he had been a member of the Nazi teachers' association since 1934 . In 1938 he published the first version of his book Inheritance, Acquired Properties and Selection, which was revised in 1969 . Zimmermann advocated the racist Nuremberg laws and advocated sterilization. In addition to his work as a university lecturer, he was a consultant for phylogeny at the journal Der Biologe , which was taken over by the SS-Ahnenerbe in 1939 .

In 1954 Zimmermann became director of the Institute for Applied Botany in Tübingen. He retired in 1960.

In addition to his duties as a university teacher, from 1946 Zimmermann was also the state commissioner for nature conservation and landscape management in what was then the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern and from 1952 district commissioner for nature conservation in the administrative region of South Württemberg-Hohenzollern.

Zimmermann's main area of ​​research was the phylogeny of plants. He is the founder of the telome theory , with which he describes the phylogenesis of the higher land plants divided into the three basic organ systems ( root , stem and leaf ).

Honors

Fonts

  • Inheritance of "acquired traits" and selection. 2nd Edition. 1969.
  • The phylogeny of plants. 1930.
  • History of plants. 1949.
  • Evolution. The history of their problems and insights. ( Orbis academicus Volume II / 3) Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1953. ISBN 3-495-44108-5 .
  • The phylogeny of plants. 2nd Edition. 1959.
  • with Dieter Peter Baur: The Federsee. 1961.
  • The telome theory. 1965.
  • Evolution and natural philosophy. 1968.
  • Evolución vegetal. 1976.

See also

literature

  • Ilse Jahn: history of biology. Theories, methods, institutions, short biographies. 3. Edition. Spectrum, Heidelberg a. a. 2000, ISBN 3-8274-1023-1 .
  • MJ Donoghue, JW Kadereit: Walter Zimmermann and the growth of phylogenetic theory. In: Syst. Biol. 141, 1, 1992, pp. 74-85. ( Abstract )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd Edition. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , pp. 696-697.
  2. ↑ Judith Gissing: Racial hygiene and school in the Third Reich. Chapter 4: The journal “Der Biologe” as an organ of Nazi biology (PDF; 268 kB) Doctoral thesis at the Medical Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster
  3. ↑ a b c d Bärbel Häcker: 50 years of nature conservation history in Baden-Württemberg. Contemporary witnesses report. Edited by Eberhard Heiderich. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004 ISBN 3800144727 pp. 290-291
  4. ↑ 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 .
personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zimmermann, Walter Max (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Walldürn , Baden
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1980
Place of death Tübingen