Eduard Strasburger facts for kids

Eduard Strasburger was a famous botanist.

Eduard Adolf Strasburger (born February 1, 1844 – died May 18, 1912) was a well-known Polish-German professor. He was one of the most famous botanists of the 1800s. He made an important discovery: he found out how mitosis (cell division) happens in plants.

His Life and Studies

Eduard Strasburger was born in Warsaw, which was then part of Congress Poland. His parents were Krystyna Anna and Edward Bogumił Strasburger. In 1870, he married Aleksandra Julia Wertheim. They had two children, Anna and Julius.

Eduard studied biological sciences in different cities. He went to Paris, Bonn, and Jena. In 1866, he earned his PhD after working with Nathanael Pringsheim. He started teaching at the University of Warsaw in 1868. The next year, he became a professor of botany at the University of Jena. Later, in 1881, he became the head of the Botanisches Institut at the University of Bonn.

Eduard Strasburger passed away in Bonn, Germany.

What He Discovered

Strasburger helped create a very famous book called Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen. This means "Textbook of Botany for Universities." It first came out in 1894.

He was the first to clearly describe the tiny "embryonic sac" in plants like conifers (trees with cones) and flowering plants. He also showed how "double-fertilization" works in flowering plants.

Strasburger also came up with a key rule in plant cell science. He said, "New cell nuclei can only come from other nuclei that divide." He also created the terms cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. These are important parts of a cell.

Strasburgeria robusta is a plant named after Strasburger. It grows in New Caledonia.

Working with Walther Flemming and Edouard van Beneden, he helped explain how chromosomes move when cells divide. He also studied how tree sap moves up a tree. He proved that this movement is a physical process, not just a biological one.

Awards He Received

The Linnean Medal given to Eduard Strasburger in 1905.

Eduard Strasburger received several important awards for his work. In 1905, he was given the Linnean Medal. Even more special, he received the Darwin–Wallace Medal in 1908. This medal was only given out once every 50 years by the Linnean Society of London.

His Important Books

• On Cell Formation and Cell Division, 1876 – This book explained the basic ideas of mitosis, which is how cells divide.
• Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen, 1894 – This "Textbook of Botany" became very famous. It was translated into many languages, including English, Japanese, and Spanish.
• A Textbook of botany, 1898 – This was the English version of his famous botany textbook.

See also

In Spanish: Eduard Adolf Strasburger para niños

• List of Poles