Augustin Friedrich Walther (26 October 1688 – 12 October 1746) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

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 ...

and physician who was a native of

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. He was the son of

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Michael Walther the Younger (1638–1692). In 1712 he earned his degree of philosophy from the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, and in the following year received his medical doctorate from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. At

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

he became a professor of anatomy (1728),

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

(1732) and

therapy A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications a ...

(1737). In 1730 he became director of the Leipzig Botanical Gardens, and in 1737 was rector at the university. Among his numerous writings was a 1735 botanical treatise called ''Designatio plantarum quas hortus AF Waltheri complectitur'', in which he provides descriptions of thousands of plant species from his private botanical garden. As a physician he made contributions in the fields of

myology Myology is the study of the muscular system, including the study of the structure, function and diseases of muscle. The muscular system consists of skeletal muscle, which contracts to move or position parts of the body (e.g., the bones that articul ...

and

angiology Angiology (from Greek , ''angeīon'', "vessel"; and , ''-logia'') is the medical specialty dedicated to studying the circulatory system and of the lymphatic system, i.e., arteries, veins and lymphatic vessels. In the UK, this field is more ...

, and has several medical and anatomical terms named after him, including: * "Walther's dilator": An instrument used for dilation of the female

urethra The urethra (: urethras or urethrae) is the tube that connects the urinary bladder to the urinary meatus, through which Placentalia, placental mammals Urination, urinate and Ejaculation, ejaculate. The external urethral sphincter is a striated ...

. * "Walther's ducts": Also known as minor sublingual ducts. * "Walther's ganglion": Also known as the coccygeal ganglion. * "Walther's plexus": Also known as the intracavernous plexus; which is the portion of the

internal carotid plexus The internal carotid plexus is a nerve plexus situated upon the lateral side of the internal carotid artery. It is composed of post-ganglionic sympathetic fibres which have synapsed at (i.e. have their nerve cell bodies at) the superior cervical g ...

in the

cavernous sinus The cavernous sinus within the human head is one of the dural venous sinuses creating a cavity called the lateral sellar compartment bordered by the temporal bone of the skull and the sphenoid bone, lateral to the sella turcica. Structure The ...

. The plant

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Waltheria ''Waltheria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is sometimes placed in Sterculiaceae. The name honours German botanist Augustin Friedrich Walther (1688–1746). Selected species *'' Waltheria calcicola'' Urb. ...

'' from the family

Sterculiaceae Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus '' Sterculia''. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioide ...

is named after him.

References

* This article incorporates translated text from an 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 ...

, whose sources includ
ADB:Walther, Augustin Friedrich
at

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

.
Mondofacto Dictionary
(definition of eponyms)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walther, Augustin Friedrich German anatomists 18th-century German botanists Scientists from Wittenberg Academic staff of Leipzig University Rectors of Leipzig University 1688 births 1746 deaths