Georg Dieck (28 April 1847 in

Zöschen Zöschen is a village and a former municipality in the district Saalekreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 31 December 2009, it is part of the town Leuna Leuna () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, south of Merseburg and Halle, Saxon ...

– 21 October 1925 in Zöschen) was a German

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and

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 ...

. After attending high school in

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, he studied natural sciences at

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, where he was a pupil and assistant of

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

. In 1870, he taught in Zöschen at the large

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

, where over 6000 different tree and shrub species were cultivated. In addition to the maintenance of plant collections, Dieck went on expeditions in the Rockies (1888), in the Caucasus (1891) and Spain (1892), where he collected beetles, plants and mosses, while new taxa such as ''Orthotrichum cupulatum'' var ''baldaccii'' were discovered. Further journeys led him to France, Italy and Sicily, Morocco, the Balkans and Turkey. He wrote many scientific papers describing new

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

, and introduced several plants to western cultivation, notably ''Ulmus pumila'' L. var. ''arborea'' Litv. from

Turkestan Turkestan,; ; ; ; also spelled Turkistan, is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and East Turkestan (Xinjiang). The region is located in the northwest of modern day China and to the northwest of its ...

. His collections are in the

University of Halle-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 ...

(Biozentrum, World

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

in Paris (

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

), and the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London (

). His collection of 450 rose species was presented at the

world's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

in Paris in 1900. Dieck was a Member of the

Société entomologique de France Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy p ...

Eponymy

Several plant taxa are named for Dieck, including ''

Brachythecium dieckii ''Brachythecium'' is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Brachytheciaceae. The genus was first described by Wilhelm Philippe Schimper. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Brachythecium'': * '' Brachythecium albicans ...

'' and maple ''Acer × dieckii'' hybrids.

References

*Wagener 1-3 1-754; 758-1354; 1-847, 141 Taf.(z.T. farbig); 342 Karten. 1847 births 1925 deaths People from Leuna People from the Province of Saxony German lepidopterists 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German zoologists 20th-century German zoologists 20th-century German botanists {{entomologist-stub