Edvín Bayer (anglicized as Edwin Bayer; 17 February 1862 – 17 March 1927) was a botanist from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and later

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He worked at the National Museum in Prague as

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and later the head of the department of

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He specialised in

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 ...

s and

paleobotany Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments ( pal ...

(the study of plant fossils).

Biography

Bayer was born in

Chotěboř Chotěboř (; ) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,100 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zon ...

, where his father was a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

. His brother Karel Bayer (1854–1930) became a prominent professor of surgery. He went to the local school before going in 1874 to the Prague gymnasium. In 1882 he joined the German University in Prague to study law but moved to the Czech University in Prague two years later to graduate in the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

in 1888. From 1887, he served as an assistant in the botanical

collections Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

of the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia under professor

Ladislav Josef Čelakovský Ladislav Josef Čelakovský (November 29, 1834 – November 24, 1902) was a Czech botanist born in Prague. He was the son of writer František Ladislav Čelakovský, and father to mycologist Ladislav František Čelakovský (1864-1916). He took an ...

. In 1891, he earned a doctorate in philosophy, and the following year he was appointed assistant at the botanical institute of the Czech university. He also worked in the

palaeontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

department of the museum, eventually becoming head of the phytopalaeontological section in 1895, and custodian of botanical collections from 1903. Between 1902 and 1921, he served as director of the museum's botanical division.

Contributions to lichenology

Bayer played an important role in the early popularisation of lichenology in the Czech lands. He frequently published short, accessible articles drawing attention to distinctive and attractive lichen species in mountain areas such as the

Krkonoše The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše, or Karkonosze (Czech: , , ), are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif). The Czech–Polish bor ...

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech language, Czech as () and in German language, German as , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republi ...

, and surroundings of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

. His contributions to lichen taxonomy included several new

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

, including: * '' Amphoroblastia bayeriana'' * '' Gyalidea diaphana'' var. ''bayeri'' * '' Dermatocarpon bayerianum'' * '' Physconia muscigena'' var. ''bayeri'' * '' Polyblastia bayeriana'' * '' Pseudanthopyrenia bayeriana''

References

External links

Phytopalaeontologische beiträge zur kenntnis der perucer kreideschichten in Böhmen
(1920) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Edvin 1862 births 1927 deaths People from Chotěboř Botanists from Bohemia Czechoslovak botanists