Fritz Noll (27 August 1858 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

– 19 June 1908) was a German botanist who made contributions in the field of plant physiology. He studied natural history and sciences at the Universities of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. In 1887 he became an assistant to

Julius von Sachs Julius von Sachs (; 2 October 1832 – 29 May 1897) was a German botanist from Breslau, Prussian Silesia. He is considered the founder of experimental plant physiology and co-founder of modern water culture. Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Kno ...

at the University of Würzburg, and during the same year received his habilitation. In 1889 he was appointed ''etatsmäßiger'' professor at the agricultural academy at Poppelsdorf, as well as an associate professor at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

. In 1907 he became a professor of botany at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

. He is known for being the first to identify the phenomenon of

parthenocarpy In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilisation of ovules, which makes the fruit seedless. Stenospermocarpy may also produce apparently seedless fruit, but the seeds are ...

and coin the term.

Published works

With Eduard Strasburger,

Heinrich Schenck Johann Heinrich Rudolf Schenck (31 January 1860 – 25 June 1927) was a German botanist who was a native of Siegen. He was a brother to geographer Adolf Schenck (1857–1936). Heinrich Schenck initially studied natural sciences at the University ...

and

Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper (12 May 1856 – 9 September 1901) was a German botanist and phytogeographer who made major contributions in the fields of histology, ecology and plant geography. He travelled to South East Asia and the Caribbea ...

, he was co-author of "''Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen''", a book that was later translated into English with the title of
A Text-book of Botany" (1898)
Other noted works by Noll include: * ''Experimentelle Untersuchungen über das Wachstum der Zellmembran'', 1887 - Experimental research on the growth of the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of all cells from the outside environment ( ...

. * ''Über heterogene Induktion; Versuch eines Beitrags zur Kenntnis der Reizerscheinungen der Pflanzen'', 1892 - On heterogeneous induction, etc. * ''Das Sinnesleben der Pflanzen'', 1896 - The "mental life" of plants * ''Julius von Sachs : ein Nachruf'', 1897 - Obituary of

* ''Ueber Geotropismus'', 1900 - On

geotropism Gravitropism (also known as geotropism) is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity pulling on it. It also occurs in fungi. Gravity can be either "artificial gravity" or natural gravity. It is a general featu ...

* ''Über das Etiolement der Pflanzen'', 1901 - On

etiolation Etiolation is a process in flowering plants grown in partial or complete absence of light. It is characterized by long, weak stems; smaller leaves due to longer internodes; and a pale yellow color (chlorosis). The development of seedlings in t ...

of plants * ''Zur Keimungs-Physiologie der Cucurbitaceen'', 1901 - Germination-physiology of

Cucurbitaceae The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *'' Lagen ...

. * ''Zur Controverse über den Geotropismus'', 1902 - Controversy concerning geotropism * "Fruchtbildung ohne vorausgegangene Bestaubung (Parthenokarpie) bei der Gurke". ''Gesellschaft für Natur- und Heilkunde zu Bonn''. 1; 1902: 149–162. * ''Beobachtungen und Betrachtungen über embryonale Substanz'', 1903 - Observations and considerations on embryonic substance. * " Algae and related subjects - collected works", translated into English in 1893.Worldcat Identities
(publications)

References

(translated biography of Fritz Noll) 19th-century German botanists Academic staff of the University of Halle Academic staff of the University of Bonn 1858 births 1908 deaths Scientists from Frankfurt 20th-century German botanists {{Germany-botanist-stub