Richard Wettstein

Richard Wettstein
Richard Wettstein on a 1927 photo
Born
Anna Weinberg

(1863-07-30)30 July 1863
Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died10 August 1931(1931-08-10) (aged 68)
Trins, First Austrian Republic
NationalityAustrian
Alma materUniversity of Vienna
Scientific career
FieldsBotany

Richard Wettstein (30 June 1863 in Vienna – 10 August 1931 in Trins) was an Austrian botanist. His taxonomic system, the Wettstein system, was one of the earliest based on phyletic principles.

Wettstein studied in Vienna, where he was a disciple of Anton Kerner von Marilaun (1831-1898) and married his daughter Adele.[1] During his time at the University of Vienna, he founded the student-led Natural Science Association with his friend Karl Eggerth in 1882.[2] He was a professor at the University of Prague from 1892, and at the University of Vienna from 1899. He newly laid out the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna.[3]

In 1901 he became president of the Vienna Zoological-Botanical Society (Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft), and during the same year took part in a scientific expedition to Brazil. In 1919 he was appointed vice-president of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. During his later years (1929–30), he traveled with his son, Friedrich, to eastern and southern Africa.[4]

The mycological genus Wettsteinina is named in his honor and also Wettsteiniola, which is a genus of flowering plants from Brazil, belonging to the family Podostemaceae, also honor's Richard Wettstein.[5]

In 1905, he was co-president of the International Botanical Congress, held in Vienna.[6]

In 1913 Wettstein edited and distributed the last fascicles (specimens no. 3601-4000) of the famous exsiccata work Flora exsiccata Austro-Hungarica, a museo botanico universitatis vindobonensis edita.[7]

  1. ^ Franz Speta 2000, Warum Otto STAPF (1857-1933) Wien verlassen hat. Phyton (Horn, Austria) 40/1, 89-113
  2. ^ Svojtka, Matthias (2009). "Sammler als Wegbereiter naturwissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis – Fallstudien Leopold Johann Nepomuk von Sacher-Masoch (1797-1874) und Karl Eggerth (1861-1888)". Berichte der Geologischen Bundesanstalt. 45: 40–43. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  3. ^ Thomas Maisel. Scholars in Stone and Bronze: The Monuments in the Arcaded Courtyard of the University of Vienna. University of Vienna. Böhlau Verlag Wien 2008. p. 42 Richard Wettstein von Westerheim (1863–1931) botanist, ISBN 9783205782247
  4. ^ Ingeborg 2014.
  5. ^ "Wettsteiniola Suess. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stafleu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Flora exsiccata Austro-Hungarica, a museo botanico universitatis vindobonensis edita: IndExs ExsiccataID=676642048". IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae. Botanische Staatssammlung München. Retrieved 14 April 2024.