Karl Moriz Diesing (also written as Carl Moritz Diesing; 16 June 1800 – 10 January 1867) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

naturalist 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 ...

and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, specializing in the study of

helminthology Helminthology is the study of parasitic worms (helminths). The field studies the taxonomy of helminths and their effects on their hosts. The origin of the first compound of the word is the Greek '' ἕλμινς'' - helmins, meaning "worm". In ...

Biography

Diesing was born on 16 June 1800 in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. He studied medicine at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, earning his doctorate in 1826. Afterwards, he served as an assistant to

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 ...

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...

, later working as an intern at the ''Hof-Naturalien-Cabinet'' (from 1829). In 1836, he became a

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 ...

of the zoological collections. In the late 1840s, he began to suffer from serious eye problems, and shortly afterwards experienced permanent blindness. His principal works include ''Systema Helminthum'' (2 vols., 1850–1851), and ''Revision der Nematoden'' (1861). In his paper "''Versuch einer monographie der Gattung Pentastoma''" (Ann. Wien Mus. Naturges. 1836, 1–32), he was the first to establish the distinct nature of the

Pentastomida The Pentastomida are an enigmatic group of parasitic arthropods commonly known as tongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genus ''Linguatula'' to a vertebrate tongue; molecular studies point to them being highly derived crust ...

, placing them in a new group which he called Acanthotheca. The genera ''Diesingia'' and ''Diesingiella'' Petymol
Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. D are named after him. He died on 10 January 1867 in

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. ...

References

External links

*
IPNI
List of plants described. 1800 births 1867 deaths Naturalists from the Austrian Empire Zoologists Scientists from Kraków Zoologists from the Austrian Empire {{zoologist-stub