Felix Karl Albert Ernst Joachim Freiherr von Thümen (6 February 1839,

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

– 13 October 1892

Teplitz-Schönau Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...

) was a German

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

Life

Felix von Thümen graduated from the Gymnasium in Dresden and entered the Prussian army at the age of 19, but soon retired due to an injury incurred by a fall from his horse. After a short stint in agriculture he had to abandon the management of his family estates and devoted the rest of his life to botanical and mycological research. Influenced mainly by

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...

he devoted most of his interest to the study of fungi. In 1876 he became a research assistant at the chemico-physiological research station in

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg () is a town in the Tulln District of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Frequently abbreviated to Kloburg by locals, it has a population of about 27,500. The Stift Klosterneuburg ( Klosterneuburg Monastery), which was establish ...

, a position he occupied for the rest of his life. The position afforded him considerable freedom in choosing his domicile, so that he lived for various periods in Vienna, Berlin and

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

. He suffered from a severe heart disease, for which he repeatedly visited the spas of Teplitz-Schönau, where he died at the age of 54. He was a fellow of the Royal Prussian Academy of Science.

Work

His early fame rested mainly on his morphological acumen, which resulted in him being sought out to provide systematic treatments of fungi made by a large number of botanical collectors in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. His interest later turned to plant pathology, in particular to fungal diseases of grapevines and fruit trees. Among a multitude of publications the more prominent are ''Fungi nonnulli austriaci'', ''Fungi of the Grapevine'', (1877) ''Fungi of the Fruitplants'' (1888). He published several

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

works, among them ''Herbarium mycologicum oeconomicum'' and ''Mycotheca universalis''. Botanists

Albert Julius Otto Penzig Albert Julius Otto Penzig, also referred to as Albertus Giulio Ottone Penzig (15 March 1856, Samitz, Silesia – 6 March 1929, Genoa) was a German mycologist. In 1877 he earned his degree from University of Breslau, afterwards serving as an assi ...

and

Pier Andrea Saccardo Pier Andrea Saccardo (23 April 1845 in Treviso, Province of Treviso, Treviso – 12 February 1920 in Padua, Italy, Padua) was an Italian botany, botanist and mycology, mycologist. His multi-volume ''Sylloge Fungorum'' was one of the first attempt ...

in 1898,

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

the fungi genus of ''

Thuemenella ''Thuemenella'' is a genus of fungi in the family Hypoxylaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1898 by Albert Julius Otto Penzig and Pier Andrea Saccardo. The genus name of ''Thuemenella'' is in honour of Felix von Thümen (1839–1892), who w ...

'', which was named in his honour.

References

Sources

E. Wunschmann., „Thümen, Felix“, in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 54 (1908), pp. 702-703

Obituary in ''Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft'' 1893

External links

von Thümen, F. ''Die Pilze der Obstgewächse'' on Open Library.

von Thümen, F. ''Die Pilze des Weinstockes'' 1878 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
* :de:Thümen (Adelsgeschlecht)

Bibliography

Detailed bibliography on WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thumen, Felix von 1839 births 1892 deaths 19th-century German botanists German mycologists Prussian Army personnel Scientists from Dresden