William Hillebrand
William Hillebrand (in the U.S. also William Hillebrand ) ( born November 13, 1821 in Nieheim, Westphalia, † July 13, 1886 in Heidelberg ) was a German physician and botanist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Hillebr. ".
He was the father of the chemist William Francis Hillebrand.
- 2.1 Academic work
- 2.2 Foster Botanical Garden
- 2.3 Ehrentaxon
Life
As the son of a judge Hillebrand studied medicine in Göttingen, Heidelberg and Berlin. He was a member of Corps Saxo - Borussia Hanseatia Göttingen (1842 ). At the Friedrich- Wilhelms- University, he received his doctorate in 1844 for Dr. med.
From Paderborn to Hawaii
After graduation, he practiced as a doctor in Paderborn. Due to a lung disease he moved to warmer climes. In 1849, he went first to Australia, then to the Philippines, where he also practiced as a doctor.
He moved to San Francisco and ( in the footsteps of Adelbert von Chamisso ) 1850 in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Again, working as a doctor, he founded the Medical Association of Hawaii. King Kamehameha IV ordered him in 1858 to the personal physician to the royal family. On his behalf, Hillebrand was traveling with his wife and son William in 1865 China, Hong Kong, Java and India to find workers for Hawaii's sugar plantations. So many Chinese and Portuguese arrived in the country.
Hillebrand founded charities and engaged in an Immigration Commission and in the fight against leprosy. King Kamehameha V, who had given the island kingdom in 1864 a constitution, appointed Hillebrand 1865 in the Privy Council.
Homecoming
Probably because of his fragile health moved Hillebrand 1872 to Madeira and Tenerife. Returned to Heidelberg in 1877, he still held to 1880 Contact to Honolulu. When the plans for a return were hopeless, he sold his estate and park to Thomas Foster, who gave his name to the Botanical Gardens.
Botanist
Even before the time in Hawaii collected Hillebrand plants. He discovered 250 new species. On the Archipelago he brought crops such as lychee, which is still grown profitably.
Academic work
1871/72 Hillebrand lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to finish at the university with the help of the Harvard botanist Asa Gray, his work on the flora of Hawaii. Dried seed he left the National Herbarium in Melbourne.
Foster Botanical Garden
1855 Hillebrand bought a two -acre plot in the middle of O'ahu, which he made with native and introduced plants of the oldest tropical botanical garden. A Kapok tree has survived until today. Before Hillebrands death Thomas Foster purchased the garden, which he gave in 1930 the city of Honolulu. Its centerpiece is the orchid collection.
Ehrentaxon
In his honor, Veronica hillebrandii, Pheballium hillebrandii, Calamagrostis hillebrandii and the plant genus Hillebrandia ( with the only kind Hillebrandia sandwicensis in Hawaii) from the family of skew -leaved plants ( Begoniaceae ) were named.
Works
- Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, 1888 ( posthumously )