Darwin Correspondence Project

Botanist and mycologist. Studied pharmacy in Breslau and Berlin; PhD in chemistry and botany, Heidelberg, 1864. After recovering from severe pneumonia went to work with Anton de Bary at the Botanical Institute, Halle, in 1868. Served as an army pharmacist in the Franco-Prussian war before contracting typhoid fever. Privat-dozent in botany, Berlin, 1875; professor of botany at the forest academy of Eberswalde, 1878. After losing the sight in one eye, became professor of botany at the Royal Botanical Institute and director of the botanical garden at Münster, 1884–98; professor of botany and director of the Institute of Plant Physiology, Breslau, 1898–1907. Retired due to poor vision and became blind in 1910. Known for his development of pure culture techniques, his comparative morphological approach to the study and classification of fungi, and research on cereal smuts.