Richard Oswald Karl Kräusel (29 August 1890 in Breslau – 25 November 1966 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

) was a German

paleobotanist 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 (pale ...

. He studied

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 ...

at the

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

as a pupil of

Ferdinand Albin Pax Ferdinand Albin Pax (26 July 1858 – 1 March 1942) was a German botanist specializing in spermatophytes. A collaborator of Adolf Engler, he wrote several monographs and described several species of plants and animals from Silesia and the Carpat ...

, and in 1913 received his doctorate with the thesis ''Beiträge zur kenntnis der Holzer aus der schlesischen Braunkohle'' ("On wood from

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

"). From 1920 to 1952 he worked as a lecturer and professor at the University of Frankfurt. He was also associated with the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, where he served as head of the department of paleobotany. During World War II his collections of fossil plants were stored in a nearby castle for safekeeping; unfortunately these collections were destroyed during bombing raids on Frankfurt.Kräusel, Richard
In:

Neue Deutsche Biographie (''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...

(NDB). Band 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, , S. 642 f.Kräusel, Richard Oswald Karl (1890-1966)
JSTOR Global Plants During his career, he traveled worldwide in his investigations of fossil plants — Southeast Asia (1921, 1926), South America (1924, 1947, 1956/57), United States and Canada (1928, 1959),

South-West Africa South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portu ...

(1928, 1953–54) and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(1960/61, 1964). On his later journeys, he conducted research on flora of

Gondwanaland Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the ...

and collected fossil specimens to replace those that were previously destroyed. In Europe, he carried out studies of

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

flora of southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With Hermann Weyland, he carried out important research on land plants of the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

. He is also remembered for his analysis of

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

leaf cuticles.

Selected works

* ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Kreideflora'', 1922 – Contributions to knowledge of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

flora. * ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Devonflora'', (with Hermann Weyland, 1923) – Contributions to knowledge of the Devonian flora. * ''Die paläobotanischen Untersuchungsmethoden, ein Leitfaden für die Untersuchung fossiler Pflanzen sowie der aus ihnen aufgebauten Gesteine in Gelände und Laboratorium'', 1929 – Paleobotanical investigation methods. A guide to the study of fossil plants, etc. * ''Die Flora des deutschen Unterdevons'' (with Hermann Weyland, 1930) – Flora of the German

Lower Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, whic ...

. * ''Neue Pflanzenfunde im Rheinischen Unterdevon'' (with Hermann Weyland, 1935 – New botanical findings of the Rhenish Lower Devonian. * ''Versunkene Floren; eine Einführung in die Paläobotanik'', 1960. * ''Mitteleuropäische Pflanzenwelt. Sträucher und Bäume'', (with Heinrich Nothdurft, Hermann Merxmüller, 1960) – Central European plants, shrubs and trees.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krausel, Richard 1890 births 1966 deaths Scientists from Wrocław University of Breslau alumni Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt 20th-century German botanists Paleobotanists