Karl Johannes Kniep (3 April 1881 – 17 November 1930) was a German
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
who was a native of
Jena.
He studied medicine at the
University of Kiel, and botany in Jena with
Christian Ernst Stahl
Christian Ernst Stahl (21 June 1848 – 3 December 1919) was a German botanist who was a native of Schiltigheim, Alsace.
Academic career
He studied botany at the University of Strasbourg with Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet (1838-1902), and at ...
(1848-1919), where in 1904 he received his doctorate. Afterwards, he worked as an assistant to
Robert Hippolyte Chodat Robert Hippolyte Chodat (4 June 1865, Moutier – 28 April 1934) was a Swiss botanist and phycologist who was a professor and director of the botanical institute at the University of Geneva.
He studied medicine and botany at Geneva, where he was l ...
(1865-1934) in
Geneva, to
Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845-1920) at
Leipzig, and under
Friedrich Oltmanns
Friedrich Oltmanns (11 July 1860, in Oberndorf – 13 December 1945) was a German phycologist.
In 1884 he received his doctorate at the University of Strasbourg, afterwards working as an assistant at the University of Rostock (from 1885). In ...
(1860-1945) in
Freiburg. Later, he conducted physiological research of
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
in
Bergen.
Beginning in 1907, he was a private lecturer at the
University of Freiburg, followed by an associate professorship at the
University of Strasbourg (1911). In 1914 Kniep became a full professor at the
University of Würzburg, where he was also served as dean of the university (1923–24). In 1924 he succeeded
Gottlieb Haberlandt (1854-1945) as professor of
plant physiology
Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...
at the
University of Berlin. During his career, he undertook study trips to the
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
,
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
, Norway, Italy, the
Caucasus region,
Netherlands East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
and Japan.
[Kniep, Hans]
In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, , S. 182
Works
Kniep is remembered for studies of
sexuality in lower plants. He also conducted
phytophysiological research of
chemotaxis
Chemotaxis (from '' chemo-'' + ''taxis'') is the movement of an organism or entity in response to a chemical stimulus. Somatic cells, bacteria, and other single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemica ...
and
nastic movements, as well as
ecophysiological investigations involving
photosynthesis and
respiration of
marine plants.
[ Furthermore, he did extensive studies on the cytology and genetics of fungi, especially basidiomycetes. From 1913 to 1917, he published five treatises on the fungal class Hymenomycetes:
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Hymenomyceten: I. Die Entwicklungsgeschichte von Hypochnus terrestris nov. spec.'' - 1913, Zeitschrift für Botanik 5 pp. 593 – 637
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Hymenomyceten: II. Über die Herkunft der Kernpaare im Fruchtkörper von Coprinus nycthemerus'' - 1913, Zeitschrift für Botanik 5 pp. 593 – 637
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Hymenomyceten: III. Über die konjugierten Teilungen und die phylogenetische Bedeutung der Schnallenbildungen'' - 1915, Zeitschrift für Botanik 7 pp. 369 – 398.
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Hymenomyceten: IV. Über den Ursprung und die ersten Entwicklungsstadien der Basidien'' - 1916, Zeitschrift für Botanik 8 pp. 353 – 359.
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Hymenomyceten: V. Über die Entstehung der Paarkernigkeit der Zellen des Schnallenmycels'' - 1917, Zeitschrift für Botanik 9 pp. 81 – 118.
Other significant writings by Kniep include:
* ''Über rhythmische Lebensvorgänge bei den Pflanzen'', 1915 – On rhythmic life processes in plants.
* ''Über morphologische und physiologische Geschlechtsdifferenzierung'', 1920 – On morphological and physiological sex differentiation.
* ''Über Geschlechtsbestimmung und Reduktionsteilung'', 1922 – On sex determination and meiosis.
* ''Die Sexualität der niederen Pflanzen'', 1928 – Sexuality of lower plants.
With Friedrich Oltmanns, he was editor of the botanical magazine, "''Zeitschrift für Botanik''".ZVAB]
Zeitschrift für Botanik
References
* This article incorporates text from equivalent articles at the German and French Wikipedia.
* List of publications by Hans Kniep from the "Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kniep, Hans
1881 births
1930 deaths
Scientists from Jena
People from Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
20th-century German botanists
German mycologists
Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg
Academic staff of the University of Würzburg
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
Scientists from Würzburg