Jean Pierre Étienne Vaucher (17 April 1763 – 5 or 6 January 1841) was a Swiss

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and A ...

and

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 w ...

who was a native of the

Republic of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

. He studied theology at Geneva, and from 1795 to 1821 was a pastor at the Church of Saint-Gervais. From 1808 to 1840 he was a professor of church history at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

, and for a number of years he also taught classes in botany. Among his better-known students were botanist

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

(1778-1841), scientist Hans Conrad Escher von der Linth (1767-1823) and Charles-Albert (1798-1849), the future King of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian language, Italian, Corsican language, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese dialect, Algherese and Catalan languag ...

. Vaucher is remembered for his research involving the developmental history of

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from u ...

. In his 1803 treatise ''Histoire des Conferves d'eau douce'', he described the process of

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change ...

in certain algae as a distinct sexual process. The phenomena of conjugation is a means of

fertilization Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Proce ...

that takes place in

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

such as ''

Spirogyra ''Spirogyra'' (common names include water silk, mermaid's tresses, and blanket weed) is a genus of filamentous charophyte green algae of the order Zygnematales, named for the helical or spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts that is characteris ...

''. He is credited for describing the development of the networks that occur in the cells of '' Hydrodictyon'' (water net algae), and for describing the

pyrenoid Pyrenoids are sub-cellular micro-compartments found in chloroplasts of many algae,Giordano, M., Beardall, J., & Raven, J. A. (2005). CO2 concentrating mechanisms in algae: mechanisms, environmental modulation, and evolution. Annu. Rev. Plant Bio ...

of algae. He is honoured in the name of 2 genera of yellow-green algae, ''

Vaucheria ''Vaucheria'' is a genus of Xanthophyceae or yellow-green algae known as water felt. It is one of only two genera in the family Vaucheriaceae. The type species of the genus is '' Vaucheria disperma''. The genus was circumscribed by Augustin Pyr ...

'', named by

in 1801. As well as '' Vaucheriella'', published by François Benjamin Gaillon in 1833.

Selected publications

''Histoire des conferves d'eau douce''
(1803)
''Histoire physiologique des plantes de l'Europe''
4 volumes (1804) * ''Mémoire sur les seiches du lac de Genève'' (1805)
''Monographie des orobanches''
(1827) * ''Souvenir d'un Pasteur Genevois, ou recueil de sermons'' (1842)

References

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaucher, Jean Pierre Etienne 1763 births 1841 deaths 18th-century botanists from the Republic of Geneva Botanists from Geneva 19th-century Swiss botanists Swiss Protestant ministers University of Geneva faculty Phycologists