Heinrich Ludwig Hermann Müller (23 September 1829 – 25 August 1883) 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 provided important evidence for Darwin's

theory of evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

Career

Müller was an early investigator of

coevolution In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well ...

.^p27 He was the author in 1873 of ''Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten'', a book translated at the suggestion of Darwin in 1883 as ''The Fertilisation of Flowers''. He and Darwin corresponded; 36 letters between the two, or from Darwin concerning Müller, are recorded. Darwin cited him extensively in ''

The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biolo ...

'' for his information relating to the behavior of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s. Hermann was the brother of

Fritz Müller Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller (31 March 1822 – 21 May 1897), better known as Fritz Müller, and also as Müller-Desterro, was a German biologist who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the German community of Blumenau, ...

,Thompson J. N. 1994. ''The Coevolutionary Process''. University of Chicago Press. ^p29 the German doctor who lived in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil and researched its natural history. Fritz Müller wrote the first book in support of Darwinian evolution in German,"''Für Darwin''"; he is also known as the discoverer of

Müllerian mimicry Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimic each other's honest warning signals, to their mutual benefit. The benefit to Müllerian ...

. The work of both brothers was well known to Darwin. Müller was increasingly attacked by conservative circles in Germany for his ideas about evolution. The discussion escalated in 1879 and was even brought to the Prussian Assembly, after Müller had dealt in his teaching with a work by the German Darwinist and popular writer Ernst Krause. Yet, the Prussian state did not dismiss Müller. Daum, ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung'', pp. 72–74, 78–9.

Selected publications

*''Die Befruchtung der Blumen'' (
The Fertilisation of Flowers''
1883) ranslated_by_D'Arcy_Wentworth_Thompson_with_a_Preface_by_Charles_Darwin.html" ;"title="D'Arcy_Wentworth_Thompson.html" ;"title="ranslated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson">ranslated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson with a Preface by Charles Darwin">D'Arcy_Wentworth_Thompson.html" ;"title="ranslated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson">ranslated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson with a Preface by Charles Darwin]

References

External links

Darwin's preface to the English translation of ''The Fertilisation of Flowers''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Hermann Botanists with author abbreviations 1829 births 1883 deaths Evolutionary biologists 19th-century German botanists

Career

Selected publications

References

Further reading

External links