Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (14 February 1776 – 16 March 1858) was a prolific German botanist,

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

, and natural philosopher. He was a contemporary of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

and was born within the lifetime of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

. He described approximately 7,000 plant species (almost as many as Linnaeus himself). His last official act as president of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina was to admit

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

as a member. He was the author of numerous monographs on botany and zoology. His best-known works deal with

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

Biography

Nees von Esenbeck was born in Schloss Reichenberg near

Reichelsheim (Odenwald) Reichelsheim (Odenwald) is a municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Reichelsheim lies in the middle Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 538 m in the middle of the ''Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße ...

. He showed an early interest in science and, after receiving his primary education in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, he went on to the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

, obtaining his degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

(natural history) and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

in 1800. He practiced as a physician for Francis I (Erbach-Erbach), but he had developed a great interest in botany during his university studies, and eventually he returned to

academia An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

. In 1816 he joined the Leopoldina Academy, which was one of the most prestigious institutions in Europe. In 1817 he was appointed professor of botany at the University of Erlangen. Three years later he became professor of natural history 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 ...

, where he established the

Botanische Gärten der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn The Botanische Gärten der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (6.5 hectares open to public, 3 hectares private), also known as the Botanischer Garten Bonn, is a botanical garden and arboretum maintained by the University of Bonn. It is locat ...

, and in 1831 he was appointed to the chair of botany at the University of Breslau. In 1818 he was elected president of the Leopoldina Academy. He continued as president of the academy for the rest of his life. In botany he achieved notoriety for, among other things, contributions to the families

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in ...

and

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur m ...

. He became politically active in the German revolutions of 1848–1849. In 1851 due to conflicts with the government he was deprived of his professorship and pension at Breslau. Seven years later Nees von Esenbeck died essentially penniless in Breslau. He was an older brother to botanist

Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck (26 July 1787 – 12 December 1837) was a German botanist and pharmacologist, who was born in Schloss Reichenberg near Reichelsheim (Odenwald). He was a younger brother to naturalist Christian Gottfrie ...

(1787–1837).

Honours

In 1936, botanist Wilhelm Kirschstein published '' Myconeesia'', a genus of

in the family

Xylariaceae The Xylariaceae are a family of mostly small ascomycetous fungi. It is one of the most commonly encountered groups of ascomycetes and is found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world. They are typically found on wood, seeds ...

and named in his honour. In 1940, botanist Pilg. published '' Neesiochloa'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian plants in the grass family, in Nees von Esenbeck's honour. Then in 1947, botanist Margaret Rutherford Bryan Levyns published ''

Neesenbeckia ''Neesenbeckia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Cyperaceae. The only species is ''Neesenbeckia punctoria'' . It is native to the Cape Provinces in South Africa. The genus name of ''Neesenbeckia'' is in honou ...

'', a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s from South Africa, belonging to the family

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

, in Nees von Esenbeck's honour.

Works

* ''Die Algen des süßen Wassers, nach ihren Entwickelungsstufen dargestellt (1814) * ''Das System der Pilze und Schwämme'' (1816) * ''Vorlesungen zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des magnetischen Schlafs und Traums'' (1820) * ''Handbuch der Botanik. Band 1'' (1820
Digital edition
by the University and State Library Düsseldorf * ''Handbuch der Botanik. Band 2'' (1821
Digital edition
by the University and State Library Düsseldorf * ''Bryologia germanica'' (with Christian Friedrich Hornschuch und Jacob Sturm, 1823–31, 2 Bände mit 43 Tafeln) * ''Plantarum, in Horto medico Bonnensi nutritarum, Icones selectae'' (1824
Digital edition
by the University and State Library Düsseldorf * ''Agrostologia brasiliensis'' (1829) * ''Genera Plantarum Florae Germanicae'' (1831–1860) * ''Genera et species Asterearum'' (1833) * ''Naturgeschichte der europäischen Lebermoose mit Erinnerungen aus dem Riesengebirge'' (1833-38, 4 Bände) * ''Hymenopterorum Ichneumonibus affinium monographiae'' (1834, 2 Bände) * ''System der spekulativen Philosophie'', Band 1 *'' Systema Laurinarum'' (1836) * ''Florae Africae australioris illustration monographicae Gramineae'' (1841) * ''Die Naturphilosophie'' (1841) * ''De Cinnamomo disputatio'' (1843) * ''Synopsis hepaticarum'' (with

Carl Moritz Gottsche Carl Moritz Gottsche (3 July 1808 – 28 September 1892) was a German physician and bryologist born in Altona. He was the father of geologist Carl Christian Gottsche (1859-1909). Gottsche was a leading authority of Hepaticae. With Christian G ...

und Johann Lindenberg, 1844–1847) *''Die allgemeine Formenlehre der Natur'' (1852)

References

External links

* http://www.nees-von-esenbeck.de/ (German language site devoted to Nees von Esenbeck; includes extensive biography) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nees von Esenbeck, Christian Gottfried Daniel German taxonomists 01 19th-century German zoologists 1776 births 1858 deaths Agrostologists Bryologists Pteridologists German entomologists German mycologists German phycologists Botanists with author abbreviations Presidents of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina German religious humanists University of Jena alumni University of Erlangen-Nuremberg faculty University of Bonn faculty University of Breslau faculty People from Odenwaldkreis 19th-century German botanists Member of the Prussian National Assembly

Biography

Honours

Works

References

Further reading

External links