Alexander Carl Heinrich Braun (10 May 1805 – 29 March 1877) 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 ...

from

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...

, Bavaria. His research centered on the morphology of plants.

Biography

He studied botany in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. In 1833 he began teaching botany at the Polytechnic School of

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, staying there until 1846. Afterwards he was a professor of botany in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

(from 1846),

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 unive ...

(from 1850) and at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

(1851), where he remained until 1877. While in Berlin, he was also director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. In 1852, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

. Braun is largely known for his research involving

plant morphology Phytomorphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants.Raven, P. H., R. F. Evert, & S. E. Eichhorn. ''Biology of Plants'', 7th ed., page 9. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 2005). . This is usually considered distinct from ...

. He accepted evolution but was a critic of

Darwinism Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations tha ...

. He was a proponent of

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

, a popular 19th-century speculative theory that claimed that a regulative force existed within living matter in order to maintain functionality. Braun made important contributions in the field of

cell theory In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pre ...

. From his 1830s analysis of the arrangement of scales on a

pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers an ...

he was a pioneer of

phyllotaxis In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...

. In 1877 Wilhelm Philippe Schimper and

Philipp Bruch Philipp Bruch (February 11, 1781 – February 11, 1847) was a German pharmacist and bryologist born in Zweibrücken. His father, Johann Christian Bruch was also a pharmacist. He initially worked at a pharmacy in Mainz, and afterwards studied in ...

named the plant genus '' Braunia'' in his honor. Also, a decorative plant known as "Braun's holly

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

" (''

Polystichum braunii Braun's hollyfern (''Polystichum braunii'') is a species of ''Polystichum''. It is native to Eurasia and Northern America Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America. The boundaries may be drawn slightly differently. ...

'') commemorates his name.
Encyclopedia of garden ferns by Suzanne Olsen

Written works

* 1831: ''Untersuchung über die Ordnung der Schuppen an den Tannenzapfen'' (Investigation on the order of shapes in pine cones). * 1842: ''Nachträgliche Mitteilungen über die Gattungen Marsilia und Pilularia'' (Additional releases on the genera Marsilea and Pilularia). * 1851: ''Betrachtungen über die Erscheinung der Verjüngung in der Natur, insbesondere in der Lebens- und Bildungsgeschichte der Pflanze'' (Leipzig, 198 pp.) (Reflections on the phenomenon of rejuvenation in nature, particularly in the life and developmental history of the plant). * 1852: ''Über die Richtungsverhältnisse der Saftströme in den Zellen der Characeen''. (on directional conditions involving juice flow in the cell of

Characeae Characeae is a family of freshwater green algae in the order Charales, commonly known as stoneworts. They are also known as brittleworts or skunkweed, from the fragility of their lime-encrusted stems, and from the foul odor these produce when step ...

). * 1853: ''Das Individuum der Pflanze in seinem Verhältnis zur Spezies etc.'' (The individual plant in its relation to species, etc.). * 1854: ''Über den schiefen Verlauf der Holzfaser und die dadurch bedingte Drehung der Stämme'' * 1854: ''Über einige neue und weniger bekannte Krankheiten der Pflanzen, welche durch Pilze erzeugt werden'' (On new and lesser-known diseases of plants produced by fungi). * 1854: ''Das Individuum der Species in seinem Verhältnis zur Pflanze'' (The individual of the species in its relationship to the plant). * 1855: "Algarum unicellularium genera nova et minus cognita". * 1856: ''Über Chytridium, eine Gattung einzelliger Schmarotzergewächse auf Algen und Infusorien'' (On

Chytridium ''Chytridium'' is a genus of fungi in the family Chytridiaceae. With the culture and characterization of ''Chytridium olla'', the type species of the order, the limits of the Chytridiales were established. ; Names brought to synonymy: * ''Chy ...

, a genus of unicellular parasites on

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

and

infusoria Infusoria are minute freshwater life forms including ciliates, euglenoids, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates. Some authors (e.g., Bütschli) used the term as a synonym for Ciliophora. In modern formal classifications, the term ...

). * 1857: ''Über Parthenogenesis bei Pflanzen'' (On

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and developmen ...

in plants) * 1860: ''Über Polyembryonie und Keimung von Caelebogyne'' (

Polyembryony Polyembryony is the phenomenon of two or more embryos developing from a single fertilized egg. Due to the embryos resulting from the same egg, the embryos are identical to one another, but are genetically diverse from the parents. The genetic differ ...

and

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fe ...

of Caelebogyne). * 1861: '' Index seminum Horti Botanici Berolinensis: Appendix Plantarum Novrum et minus cognitarum quea in Horto region botanico Berolinensi coluntur. * 1862: ''Über die Bedeutung der Morphologie'' (On the importance of morphology). * 1862: ''Zwei deutsche Isoetesarten'' (Two German Isoëtes species). * 1863: ''Über Isoetes'' (On

quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is the only extant genus of plants in the family Isoetaceae, which is in the class of lycopods. There are currently 192 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution but with the individual s ...

s). * 1865: ''Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Gattung Selaginella'' (Contribution to the knowledge of the genus

Selaginella ''Selaginella'' is the sole genus of vascular plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses or lesser clubmosses. This family is distinguished from Lycopodiaceae (the clubmosses) by having scale-leaves bearing a ligule and by having ...

). * 1867: ''Die Characeen Afrikas'' (African

). * 1867: "Conspectus systematicus Characearum europaearum". * 1870: ''Neuere Untersuchungen über die Gattungen Marsilia und Pilularia'' (Recent studies on the genera Marsilea and Pilularia). * 1872: ''Über die Bedeutung der Entwicklung in der Naturgeschichte'' (On the importance of development in natural history).

Notes

References

* This article is based on a translation of the 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 Wikipedi ...

.
Biography
at Deutsche Biographie.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Alexander 1805 births 1877 deaths 19th-century German botanists Non-Darwinian evolution Scientists from Regensburg People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Heidelberg University alumni University of Paris alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Humboldt University of Berlin faculty University of Freiburg faculty University of Giessen faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Vitalists German expatriates in France

Biography

Written works

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links