Eduard Strasburger
Polish-German botanist (1844–1912)
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Life
Eduard Strasburger was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, the son of Anna Karoline (von Schütz) and Eduard Gottlieb Strasburger (1803–1874). In 1870, he married Alexandra Julia ("Alexandrine") Wertheim (1847–1902), they had two children: Anna (1870–1942) and Julius (1871–1934).
Strasburger studied biological sciences in Paris, Bonn and Jena, receiving a PhD in 1866 after working with Nathanael Pringsheim. In 1868 he taught at the University of Warsaw. In 1869 he was appointed professor of botany at the University of Jena. From 1881 he was head of the Botanisches Institut at the University of Bonn.
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Achievements
Strasburger was a founder of the famous Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen (Textbook of Botany), which first appeared in 1894. He was the first to provide an accurate description of the embryonic sac in gymnosperms (such as conifers) and angiosperms (flowering plants), along with demonstrating double-fertilization in angiosperms. He came up with one of the modern laws of plant cytology: "New cell nuclei can only arise from the division of other nuclei." and originated the terms cytoplasm and nucleoplasm.
Together with Walther Flemming and Edouard van Beneden, he elucidated chromosome distribution during cell division. His work on the upward movement of tree sap proved that the process was physical and not physiological.
Awards
In 1886 Strasburger was elected an honorary member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1905, as well as the Linnean Society of London's even more prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1908, awarded only once every 50 years.
Family
Strasburger was married to the pianist Alexandra Julie ("Alexandrine") Wertheim (1847–1902, daughter of the banker and councillor Julius Wertheim 1817–1901 from Warsaw, half sister of Carl Tausig) and aunt of the pianist Juliusz Wertheim (1880−1928); they had three children (the third died early). His son was the internist Julius Strasburger, a grandson was the ancient historian Hermann Strasburger.