Georg August Pritzel (2 September 1815,
Carolath – 14 June 1874) was a German librarian and
botanical
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 ...
writer.
He studied in
Breslau, graduating with a dissertation titled ''Anemonarum revisio''. In 1851 he began work as a ''Hülfsarbeiter'' at the royal library in Berlin, a post which eventually led to
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 ...
duties. From 1855 onwards, he served as
archivist
An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...
at the
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...
.
Principal works
* ; first published in 1851, it contains literature from ancient times to his present. Research involved examination of 40,000 works in libraries at
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, London, Paris and various German locations.
* ''Iconum Botanicarum index locupletissimus'' (1855-1866).
* ''Die deutschen Volksnamen der Pflanzen'' (1884); (The German common names of plants), 24,000 plant names given. Completed by botanist
Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Jessen (1821–1889), after Pritzel's death in 1874.
The botanical genus ''
Pritzelago'' from the family
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...
was named after him by
Otto Kuntze
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist.
Biography
Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig.
An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866, he ...
(1843-1907).
Google Books
CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms ... by Umberto Quattrocchi
References
biography
@ 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 ...
1815 births
1874 deaths
People from Nowa Sól
19th-century German botanists
German librarians
German archivists
German botanical writers
{{Germany-botanist-stub