Thilo Irmisch

Johann Friedrich Thilo Irmisch ( born January 14, 1816 in Special Hausen, † April 28, 1879 Special Hausen ) was a German botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Irmisch ". He has a part in the discovery of the generation change of ferns and mosses.

Life

Thilo Irmisch, son of a princely hunter, had paternal and maternal ancestors who were primarily active in forestry occupations. From 1829 to 1836 he attended the special school houses. In Reifezeugnis its tendency to botany and his skills were emphasized in the poetry. From 1836 he studied theology, philosophy and natural sciences at the University of Halle. Soon outweighed his interest in the natural sciences. Prof. Schlechtendal (1794-1866), who later became director of the botanical garden in Halle, was his teacher and later his friend. After studying Irmisch was first tutor in Teistungenburg with a family who financially supported him on his unpaid job as an assistant teacher at the high school from 1844 in Sondershausen. The final appointment was not until 1846. He taught " description of nature " ( Botany and Zoology ), Latin, German and religion. He was also responsible for the education and training of the prince son. In 1851 he married the daughter of a master chimney sweep and had with her two daughters. His recreation consisted in botanical walks around his hometown. As a teacher he remained for 35 years at the same school until his death. After a botanical outing with friends, he suffered on April 24, 1879 at the desk while editing an article a stroke. Professor Dr. phil. h c. Johann Friedrich Thilo Irmisch died on April 28, 1879. His grave is no longer maintained. The grave slab is kept in the Palace Museum Sondershausen.

Work

Besides his work as a teacher Thilo Irmisch employed with botany. His special interest in the scheme by comparing the forms led him to plant morphology. In 1846 he published a " Systematic list of zones in the under parts of the stately black burg principalities wild phanerogamischen plants with the most important cultivated plants ". It was a list of 1023 species in 436 families of native flowering plants. This plant catalog, as the " Small Irmisch " refers, was a popular book. With his work, he stood in the succession of Karl Friedrich Schimper and Alexander Brown. He became known through his work into a poem " On the morphology of the monocot tubers and bulbs " (1850), in which he presented the next rung consequence, the living conditions of these plants in an exemplary manner. He has published numerous papers on morphological observations "Contributions to the comparative morphology of plants" (1854-1863), and turned his observations with preference to native plants. He continued, "On some botanists of the 16th century, which explored the flora of Thuringia and the Harz " (1862 ).

Irmisch made ​​his friend Wilhelm Hofmeister (1824-1877) attention to the generation of ferns and mosses on a hike together in Sondershausen. Through further research Hofmeister was able to show the new generation at the moss, ferns and seed plants and the relationship between these groups of plants.

For the comprehensive work " Handbook of Physiological Botany " by Hofmeister, de Bary and Sachs, he has produced the book entitled "The doctrine of the shoot sequence" as a manuscript. In the journal for the entire science "Flora", he published articles, among others: "Contributions to the biology and morphology of Orchids" (1853 ), "Contributions to the comparative morphology of plants" (1854 ), " Morphological observations on Melanthaceen, Irideen and Aroideae " (1856 ), " On some species of the plant family of Potameen " (1858 ), " Contributions to the morphology of the monocot plants " ( 1860-1863 ) and" On some Aroideae " (1874 ). Irmisch wrote 153 titles on the morphology of the plants and was in correspondence with over 50 renowned botanists at home and abroad.

In addition to his botanical studies, he was a historian, archaeologist and local historian. 1862 gave him the prince overseeing the Princely Naturalienkabinett. As curator of the collections he found the manuscript " Black Burger Chronicles " by Paul Jovius ( 1574-1633 ). He became a member of the Special Housing "Association for German history and archeology ." 1873 led Irmisch an excavation on the mountain woman at special camp. For its archaeological merits him the title was conferred on Archives. Since 1863 he edited the "Special Housing Government Journal ".

Tributes

Irmisch was appointed by the Prince in 1855 professor. There followed in 1857 the awarding of an honorary doctorate of Philosophy and a Master of Arts at the State University of Rostock for his services in the field of plant morphology. How Irmisch was estimated in his time as a botanist, it will be seen from the fact that he of five German universities as a university teacher appeals received (Munich, Rostock, Halle, Erlangen and Leipzig), which he did not respond.

Thilo Irmisch was an honorary member of the " Agricultural Association to Sondershausen ", the " Natural Science Association of the Bavarian Palatinate " and the " Philomanthischen Societät at Strasbourg i E.". He was a regular member of the "Association for German History and Archaeology in Sondershausen ", the " Royal Bavarian company to Regensburg ", the " Natural Sciences Association Hall of Thuringia and Saxony ", the " Natural History Society in Halle / S.", the " Physicalisch - medici African Societät in Erlangen ", the " Botanical society of the Province of Brandenburg in Berlin ," the " Grand Duchy of Saxony society of Mineralogy, Geology and Petro facto Logie in Jena ", the " Science association in Bremen ", the " Imperial Societät of Natural Sciences in Cherbourg "and" Botanical Society of Edinburgh. "

Two species of tropical plants bear his name. Thus, a genus of Asclepiadaceae was named after him in 1847, but later called Mastelma. Since 1866 is called a genus of Combretaceen Thiloa. The Special Housing Botanical Club was called from 1880 IRMISCHIA. The scientific school Sondershausen contributed to its junction with the High School " Sophie Scholl " in 1995, the name " Staatliches Gymnasium Prof. Dr. Irmisch ".

Works

• The Anorganismus. The plant. The animal. Eupel, special Hausen 1843
• On the morphology of the monokotylischen tuber and bulb vegetables. Berlin: Reimer 1850
• Contributions to the biology and morphology of orchids. Leipzig 1853 online
• Contributions to the morphology of the Amarylideen. Schmidt, Halle 1860
• About some botanists of the 16th century who have made ​​outstanding contributions to the study of the flora of Thuringia, the resin and the adjacent areas. Eupel, special Hausen 1862 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf
• About the Thuringian chronicler Master Jovius Paul and his writings. Eupel, special Hausen 1870
• Contributions to the comparative morphology of the plants. Niemeyer, Halle 1879