Gustav Wilhelm Körber (10 January 1817, Hirschberg – 27 January 1885, Breslau) was a Silesian-German lichenologist and a professor at the

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. He specialized in the flora of Central Europe.

Biography

Körber was born in Hirschberg,

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

where his father was a high school director. He received his early education from the local high school. From 1835 studied natural sciences in Breslau and Berlin in 1838, obtaining his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1839 with the thesis ''De gonidiis lichenum''. His teachers at Breslau included Heinrich Robert Göppert (1800-1884) and

Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (14 February 1776 – 16 March 1858) was a prolific Germany, German botanist, physician, zoologist, and natural philosopher. He was a contemporary of Goethe and was born within the lifetime of Carl Li ...

(1776-1858). At Berlin his influences included

Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen (28 June 1804 – 2 September 1840) was a Prussian physician and botanist. Meyen was born in Tilsit, East Prussia. In 1830 he wrote ''Phytotomie'', the first major study of plant anatomy. Between 1830 and 1832, he to ...

(1804-1840) and the chemist

Eilhard Mitscherlich Eilhard Mitscherlich (; 7 January 179428 August 1863) was a German chemist, who is perhaps best remembered today for his discovery of the phenomenon of crystallographic isomorphism in 1819. Early life and work Mitscherlich was born at Neuende ...

(1794-1863). After graduation, he served as an instructor at the "Elisabethanum" in Breslau, and from 1862, worked as a private teacher. In 1873 he became an associate professor at the

.JSTOR Global Plants
(biography) Acta Horti berg

Best known for his investigations of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

species native to

, he also examined specimens found in central and southeastern Europe as well as lichen collected from

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

Arctic region The Arctic (; . ) is the polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway (Nordland, Troms, Finnmar ...

s. Körber is credited with introducing the term in an 1855 publication to describe the distinctive multi-chambered

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

s of the lichen genera ''

Rhizocarpon ''Rhizocarpon'' is a genus of crustose, saxicolous (or sometimes lichenicolous), lichens in the family Rhizocarpaceae. The genus is common in arctic-alpine environments, but also occurs throughout temperate, subtropical, and even tropical reg ...

'' and ''

Umbilicaria Rock tripe is the common name for various lichens of the genus ''Umbilicaria'' that grow on rocks. They are widely distributed, including on bare rock in Antarctica, and throughout northern parts of North America such as New England and the Rocky ...

'', as well as the terms and in later publications. Körber used fungal characteristics for the description of lichens. This was also adopted by Abramo Massalongo (1824-1860) and was termed the ''Italian-Silesian school'' of lichen systematics and continues to be used. He however did not accept the idea that lichens were a symbiotic form and wrote a polemic against the Schwendener-Bornet's lichen theory. He published the

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 ...

''Lichenes selecti Germanici''. The genera ''

Koerberia ''Koerberia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Koerberiaceae. The genus name of ''Koerberia'' is in honour of Gustav Wilhelm Körber (1817–1885), who was a German lichenologist. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circum ...

'' (within the

Placynthiaceae The Placynthiaceae are a lichenized family of fungi in the order Peltigerales. Species of this family are found largely in northern temperate regions. Genera Numbers of species accepted by Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an internati ...

family) and '' Koerberiella'' (in the

Lecideaceae The Lecideaceae are a family (biology), family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecideales. It contains about 30 genus, genera and roughly 250 species. A major distinguishing characteristic of the family is the form of the ascomata, fruit ...

family) are named after him. Körber was a freemason and was involved in local politics and was a noted liberal.

Selected works

* ''Grundriss der kryptogamen-kunde'', 1848 – Outline of

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name ''Cryptogamae'') is a plant, in the broad sense of the word, or a plant-like organism that share similar characteristics, such as being multicellular, photosynthetic, and primarily immobile, that reproduces via sp ...

ic species. *
Systema lichenum Germaniae: Die Flechten Deutschlands
', 1855 – "Systema lichenum Germaniae": German lichens. * ''Parerga lichenologica: Ergänzungen zum Systema lichenum'', 1865 – "Parerga lichenologica": Supplement to "Systema lichenum". * ''Lichenen aus Istrien, Dalmatien u. Albanien'': (with Emanuel Weiss), 1867 – Lichens of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. * ''Lichenen Spitzbergens und Novaja-Semlja's, auf der graf Wilczek'schen expedition'', 1872 – Lichens of

Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it lies about midway between the northern coast o ...

and

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

, from the Wilczek expedition.Google Search
publications)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korber, Gustav Wilhelm 1817 births 1885 deaths German lichenologists People from Jelenia Góra People from the Province of Silesia Academic staff of the University of Breslau 19th-century German botanists

Biography

Selected works

See also

References