Josef Schiller (16 June 1877, in Ringelsheim (Bohemia) – 1960) was an Austrian phycologist and hydrobiologist.
He studied natural sciences at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1905. Afterwards he was an assistant at the zoological station in Trieste (1905-1910), where he developed an expertise involving benthic algae and phytoplankton.[1] From 1918 he worked as a lecturer of botanical hydrobiology at the University of Vienna, and in 1927 he became an associate professor on the aforementioned subject.[2]
He was a visiting scientist at marine stations in Helgoland, Ragusa, Spolato and Rovigno d'Istria, giving classes in botanical hydrobiology.[2] Later in his career, he conducted research in the field of apiology, being known for his studies on the physiological differences between summer and winter bees. From 1938 to 1947, he was in charge of the investigative body for infectious bee diseases at Vienna's University of Veterinary Medicine.[3]
The genera Schilleriella, Schillerochloris and Schilleriomonas are named after him,[2] as is the algae species Entodictyon schilleri, named in Schiller's honor by Victor Félix Schiffner (1862-1944).[4]