Eduard Adolf Strasburger (1 February 1844 – 18 May 1912) was a
Polish-
German[1] professor and one of the most famous
botanists of the 19th century. He discovered
mitosis in plants.
Life
Eduard Strasburger was born in
Warsaw,
Congress Poland, the son of Krystyna Anna (von Schütz) and Edward Bogumił Strasburger (1803–1874).[2][3] In 1870, he married Aleksandra Julia Wertheim (1847–1902), they had two children: Anna (1870–1942) and
Julius (1871–1934).
Strasburge 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.
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).[3] His son was the internist
Julius Strasburger, a grandson was the ancient historian
Hermann Strasburger.[3]
On Cell Formation and Cell Division, 1876 – a book in which he set forth the basic principles of
mitosis.
Ueber das Verhalten des Pollens und die Befruchtungsvorgänge bei den Gymnospermen: Schwärmsporen, Gameten, pflanzliche Spermatozoiden und das Wesen der Befruchtung. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena, 1892.
Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen, 1st ed., 1894;
4th ed., 1900, digital edition by
ULB Düsseldorf;
5th ed., 1902, by ULB Düsseldorf;
8th ed., 1906, by ULB Düsseldorf;
16th ed., 1923, available at
BHL; 33rd ed., 1991; 36th ed. 2008. Translated to English, Estonian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish. A complete list of editions and translations up to 1994 is given in Finke et al. (1994)[5]
A Textbook of botany,
1st ed., 1898, English translation of the 2nd German ed. (1895), available at
BHL. Macmillan, London.
Das kleine botanische Practicum für Anfänger : Anleitung zum Selbststudium der mikroskopischen Botanik und Einführung in die mikroskopische Technik,
4th ed., 1902, digital edition by ULB Düsseldorf.
^Finke, Bresinsky, Denffer, Ehrendorfer, Mägdefrau, Sitte, Ziegler & Lucius (1994). "100 Jahre Strasburgers Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen". Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, Jena, New York.
Finke, H.M., A. Besinsky, D. von Denffer, F. Ehrendorfer, K. Mägdefrau, P. Sitte, H. Ziegler, W.D. von Lucius (1994): 100 Jahre Strasburgers Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen, 1894–1994. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart/ Jena / New York. 168 Seiten.
Alt, W., K. P. Sauer: Biologie an der Universität Bonn. Eine 200-jährige Ideengeschichte. In: Bonner Schriften zur Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Band 8. V&R unipress, 2016 (
hdl.handle.net).