Willem Marius Docters van Leeuwen (16 March 1880 – 25 February 1960) was a Dutch botanist and entomologist who worked in the Dutch colony in Indonesia, where he was prominent for conducting studies on insect–plant interactions as well as for his long-term studies on the island of

Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...

. Van Leeuwen was born in Batavia, Indonesia and was educated at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. He graduated in 1905 and received a PhD in 1907. He went to

Salatiga Salatiga () is a Cities of Indonesia, city in Central Java province, Indonesia. It covers an area of and had a population of 192,322 at the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at m ...

, Central Java as an entomologist in 1908 and was also a school teacher in

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

and later

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

. He studied galls, ant–plant symbioses, pollination biology, montane flora and floral succession on the islands of Krakatoa over the course of a long period. He collaborated with his wife, Jenny Docters van Leeuwen-Reijnvaan, on several publications on plant galls. In 1918 he became director of the

Bogor Botanical Gardens The Bogor Botanical Gardens () is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by the National Research and Innovation Agency. The garden is located in the city center and adjoin the ...

, working until 1932. He took part in the American-Dutch expedition into

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

in 1926. He returned to the Netherlands in 1932 and settled in

Leersum Leersum is a town in the municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It lies about 7 km (4.3 mi) east of Doorn and 9 km (5.5 mi) west of Veenendaal. In 2001, the town of Leersum had 6013 inhabitants. The ...

. He published the results of his studies as a monograph "Krakatau 1883-1933" in 1936. He served as a professor of tropical biology at the University of Amsterdam from 1942 to 1950, where he was popularly known as "uncle doc".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Leeuwen, Willem Marius Docters 1880 births 1960 deaths Dutch ecologists