Gustav Woldemar Focke (24 January 1810,

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

– 1 June 1877, Bremen) was a German physician and naturalist. He was a nephew of naturalist Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus. He studied medicine at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1833. Following graduation, he was engaged in scientific research during an extended trip to various locations — in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, he was greatly influenced by the microscopic investigations being done by

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German Natural history, naturalist, zoologist, Botany, botanist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopy, microscopist. He is considered to be one of the most famous an ...

. In 1835 he settled as a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

in his hometown of Bremen. In 1869 he was named chairman of the ''Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen''.ADB:Focke, Gustav Woldemar
In:

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 ...

(ADB). Band 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, S. 145 f. In the field of phycology, he is known for his research involving

desmid Desmidiales, commonly called the desmids (''Gr.'' ''desmos'', bond or chain), are an Order (biology), order in the Charophyta, a division of green algae in which the land plants (Embryophyta) emerged. Desmids consist of single-celled (sometimes fi ...

s and

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...

s. In 1844 he described the

water flea The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, is a superorder of small, mostly freshwater crustaceans, most of which feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter, though some forms are predatory. Over 1000 species have been recog ...

'' Leptodora kindtii'', a species that he named in honor of pharmacist Georg Christian Kindt (1793–1869). The genus ''

Fockea ''Fockea'' is a genus of succulent scrubs native to Africa south of the equator. They are members of the Asclepiadoideae (milkweeds), a subfamily of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. Of the six accepted species, only the two most widely distributed ...

'' (family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...

) was named after him by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

Selected works

*
De respiratione vegetabilium. Commentatio inauguralis phytologica
', 1833. (''Of the respiration of vegetables: Inaugural phytological commentary'') * ''Über einige Organisationsverhältnisse bei polygastrischen Infusorien und Räderthieren''. Isis. 1836; 10: 785–787. * ''Planaria Ehrenbergii'', 1836. * ''Ein neues Infusorium''. Abh. d. Naturw. Ver. zu Bremen. V. S. 103. * ''Physiologische studien'' (2 volumes, 1847–54).Most widely held works by Gustav Woldemar Focke
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Focke, Gustav Woldemar German naturalists German phycologists 1810 births 1877 deaths Physicians from Bremen (city) Heidelberg University alumni 19th-century German biologists 19th-century German scientists