Franz Joseph Andreas Nicolaus Unger (30 November 1800 in ''Gut Amthof'' near village Leutschach in

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, Austria – 13 February 1870 in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

) was an Austrian

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 ...

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and plant physiologist.

Life and work

Initially, Unger studied law at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

. In 1820 he moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

to study medicine, in 1822 he enrolled at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. In 1823 Unger returned to Vienna and completed his medical studies in 1827. From 1827 Unger practiced as a doctor in

Stockerau Stockerau () is a town in the district of Korneuburg (district), Korneuburg in Lower Austria, Austria. Stockerau has 16,974 inhabitants, which makes it the largest town in the Weinviertel. Stockerau is also called "Lenaustadt" (Lenau Town) because ...

near Vienna, then from 1830 as a court physician in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. In 1836 he was named professor of botany at the University of Graz and also taught at the Joanneum (which became the Universalmuseum Joanneum and the Graz University of Technology); in 1850 professor of plant physiology in Vienna. In 1852 he travelled to Northern Europe and to the

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

. Unger retired in 1866 and lived on his farm near Graz. Unger was one of the major contributors to the field of

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

, later turning to

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tr ...

and phytotomy. He hypothesized that (then unknown) combinations of simple elements inside a

plant cell Plant cells are the cells present in Viridiplantae, green plants, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Their distinctive features include primary cell walls containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectin, the presence of plastids ...

determine plant heredity and greatly influenced the experiments of his student

Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel OSA (; ; ; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was an Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno (Brünn), Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a Ger ...

. Unger was a pioneer in documenting the relationships between soil and plants (1836). Unger is notable for proposing a theory of evolution before

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. Unger accepted the

transmutation of species The Transmutation of species and transformism are 18th and early 19th-century ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a ter ...

. During his time his ideas were widely criticized by those who held religious views. In his book ''Attempt of a History of the Plant World'' (1852) he devoted a chapter to the evolution of plants.

Works

* Über den Einfluß des Bodens auf die Verteilung der Gewächse. 1836. * Über den Bau und das Wachstum des Dikotyledonenstamms. 1840. * Über Kristallbildungen in den Pflanzenzellen. 1840. * Grundzüge der Anatomie und Physiologie der Pflanzen. 1846. * Anatomie und Physiologie der Pflanzen. 1855. * Grundlinien der Anatomie und Physiologie der Pflanzen. 1866. * Synopsis plan tarum fossilium. 1845. * Chloris protogaea, Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt. 1841–1847. * Genera et species plantarum fossilium. 1850. * Iconographia plantarum fossilium. 1852. * Sylloge plantarum fossilium. 1860. * Die Urwelt in ihren verschiedenen Bildungsperioden. 1851, 3rd edition 1864. (With some of the earliest drawings of prehistoric animals.) * Versuch einer Geschichte der Pflanzenwelt. 1852. * Geologie der europäischen Waldbäume. 1870. * Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer Reise in Griechenland und den Ionischen Inseln. 1862. * Die Insel Cypern. 1865. * Botanische Briefe. 1852. * Botanische Streifzüge auf dem Gebiet der Kulturgeschichte.

Sources

* "Dr. Franz Unger", Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Oct., 1870), pp. 227–232
JSTOR link
* German Wikipedia article lists several German language sources.

External links

* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, Franz 1800 births 1870 deaths People from Leibnitz District Proto-evolutionary biologists 19th-century Austrian botanists Austrian paleontologists University of Graz alumni Academic staff of the University of Graz University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of the University of Vienna Charles University alumni Plant physiologists