Alexander Carl Heinrich Braun (10 May 1805 – 29 March 1877) was a German

botanist 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 ...

from

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, Bavaria. His research centered on the morphology of plants and was a very influential teacher who worked as a professor of botany at the universities of Freiburg, Giessen, and Berlin at various times. He was also the director of the

Berlin Botanical Garden The Berlin Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum () is a botanical garden in the locality of the borough of , Berlin, Germany. Constructed between 1897 and 1910 under the guidance of architect Adolf Engler, it has an area of and over 20,000 di ...

Biography

Braun was born in Regensburg (Ratisbon) where his father Alexander was a tax inspector in the postal department. His mother Henriette was the daughter of a priest and mathematics professor. He studied at Karlsruhe and Freiburg (Breisgau) where his father was transferred. He went to the University of Heidelberg to study medicine. His teachers included

Gottlieb Wilhelm Bischoff Gottlieb Wilhelm Bischoff (21 May 1797 – 11 September 1854) was a German botanist and university professor. He was among the first to examine the reproduction of mosses and liverworts and is credited with coining the terms archegonia and anther ...

Johann Heinrich Dierbach Johann Heinrich Dierbach (23 March 1788 in Heidelberg – 11 May 1845 in Heidelberg) was a German pharmacist and botanist. He studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, receiving his doctorate in 1816. During the following year, he beca ...

and

Franz Joseph Schelver Franz Joseph Schelver (24 July 1778 in Osnabrück – 30 November 1832 in Heidelberg) was a German physician and botanist. He studied medicine at the University of Jena, and later obtained his doctorate at the University of Göttingen (1798). ...

. At Heidelberg he studied with

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

, Carl Schimper and

George Engelmann George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora (plants), flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; ...

. Agassiz would marry Braun's sister Cecilie while Schimper was engaged briefly to Braun's sister Emilie. He completed his studies at Paris and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

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

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

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

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

(from 1846),

Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germany, state () of Hesse, capital of both the Giessen (district), district of Giessen and the Giessen (region), administrative region of Giessen. The population is appro ...

(from 1850) and at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

(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. is ...

. He designed the layout which was later documented by Paul Friedrich August Ascherson. In 1852, he was elected a foreign member of the

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

. With

Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst (22 March 1806 – 24 April 1881) was a German botanist and mycologist. Biography Rabenhorst was born in Treuenbrietzen. He studied in Berlin and Belzig from 1822 to 1830, worked as a pharmacist in Luckau until 1840, ...

(1806–1881) and Ernst Stizenberger (1827–1895), he was editor of the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

series ''Die Characeen Europa's in getrockneten Exemplaren, unter Mitwirkung mehrerer Freunde der Botanik, gesammelt und herausgegeben von Prof. A. Braun, L. Rabenhorst und E. Stizenberger''. 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 pl ...

. He accepted evolution but was a critic of

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

. 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 pr ...

. His students included

August Wilhelm Eichler August Wilhelm Eichler, also known under his Latinized name, Augustus Guilielmus Eichler (22 April 1839 – 2 March 1887), was a German botanist who developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept of evolution. His auth ...

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

pine cone A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, : strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scal ...

he was a pioneer of mathematical

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

developing what is called the Schimper-Braun theory. In 1877,

Wilhelm Philippe Schimper Wilhelm Philippe Schimper (January 12, 1808 – March 20, 1880, in Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, Lichtenberg) was an Alsace, Alsatian botanist with French, later German citizenship. He was born in Dossenheim-sur-Zinsel, but spent his youth in Offwiller ...

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 The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

" (''

Polystichum braunii ''Polystichum braunii'', commonly known as Braun's hollyfern, is a species of plant. It is native to Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geograph ...

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

Published 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 ''Marsilea'' is a genus of approximately 65 species of aquatic ferns of the family Marsileaceae. The name honours Italian naturalist Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1656–1730). These small plants are of unusual appearance and do not resemble comm ...

and

Pilularia ''Pilularia'' or pillworts is a genus of unusual ferns of family Marsileaceae distributed in North Temperate regions, Ethiopian mountains, and the southern hemisphere in Australia, New Zealand, and western South America. Depending on the taxonom ...

). * 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 ste ...

). * 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: * ''Chytridi ...

, a genus of unicellular parasites on

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

and

infusoria Infusoria is a word used to describe various freshwater microorganisms, including ciliates, copepods, Euglena, euglenoids, planktonic crustaceans, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates. Some authors (e.g., Otto Bütschli, Bütschli) ...

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

parthenogenesis Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek + ) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which the embryo develops directly from an egg without need for fertilization. In animals, parthenogenesis means the development of an embryo from an unfertiliz ...

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, ...

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 ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is a genus of lycopod. It is the only living genus in the family Isoetaceae and order Isoetales. , there were about 200 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution mostly in aquatic habitats ...

species). * 1863: ''Über Isoetes'' (On

quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is a genus of lycopod. It is the only living genus in the family Isoetaceae and order Isoetales. , there were about 200 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution mostly in aquatic habitats ...

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

Selaginella ''Selaginella'', also known as spikemosses or lesser clubmosses, is a genus of lycophyte. It is usually treated as the only genus in the family Selaginellaceae, with over 750 known species. This family is distinguished from Lycopodiaceae (th ...

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

). * 1867: "Conspectus systematicus Characearum europaearum". * 1870: ''Neuere Untersuchungen über die Gattungen Marsilia und Pilularia'' (Recent studies on the genera

and

). * 1872: ''Über die Bedeutung der Entwicklung in der Naturgeschichte'' (On the importance of development in

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Notes

References

* This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article at the

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

.
Biography
at Deutsche Biographie.

External links

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

Biography

Published works

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links