Jerzy Rzedowski facts for kids

Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (born December 27, 1926 – died March 2023) was a very important botanist. He was born in Poland but later became a Mexican citizen. He spent his life studying plants, especially those found in Mexico. He was a pioneer in understanding Mexico's amazing plant life.

Early life and education

Jerzy Rzedowski was born in Lwów, Poland. This city is now part of Ukraine. His parents were Arnold and Ernestyna Rzedowski. When he was a child, his family moved to a region called Silesia.

During World War II, his family was held in a very difficult camp. They were freed when the war ended by the Allied forces. In 1946, Jerzy and his family moved to Mexico to start a new life.

Jerzy began studying Biology in 1949 at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional. He then earned his PhD in Botany in 1961 from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His studies focused on the plants of specific areas in Mexico. These early research projects helped him start his long scientific career.

Career

Jerzy Rzedowski began his career in 1953. From 1954 to 1959, he was a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. He also directed a research institute there.

In 1959, he moved to another university in Chapingo, Mexico. Then, in 1961, he became a professor at the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. He worked there until 1984. After that, he started a new research center in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

When Jerzy Rzedowski started his work, not many people were studying Mexican plants. This made him a pioneer in the field of Mexican floristics. Floristics is the study of all the plants that grow in a certain area. He traveled a lot, exploring many places to find and study local plants.

He collected more than 50,000 plant samples. These samples are now kept in special collections called herbaria. Scientists around the world can study them. He also helped classify many plants, especially those in the Burseraceae and Compositae families. Classifying plants is called taxonomy.

Jerzy Rzedowski also helped lead the plant science community. He played a big part in restarting the Sociedad Botanica de Mexico. He also organized the first Mexican Botanical Congress in 1960. In 1988, he started a scientific magazine called Acta Botánica Mexicana.

Personal life and death

In 1954, Jerzy Rzedowski married Graciela Calderón Díaz-Barriga.

He passed away in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, in March 2023. He was 96 years old.

Honors

Jerzy Rzedowski received many important awards for his work.

• In 1995, he won the Asa Gray Award.
• In 1999, he received the Millennium Botany Award.
• In 2005, he and his wife, Graciela Calderón de Rzedowski, won the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany.

Several places are named after him. These include the plant collections (herbaria) at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional and the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. The botanical garden of the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro is also named in his honor.

Many plants and even an insect have been named after him, too!

• Agave rzedowskiana
• Anthurium rzedowskii
• Bernardia rzedowskii
• Bouvardia rzedowskii
• Bursera rzedowskii
• Canthon rzedowskii
• Cercocarpus rzedowskii
• Commelina rzedowskii
• Crotalaria rzedowskii
• Croton rzedowskii
• Dalea rzedowskii
• Dioon rzedowskii
• Eleocharis rzedowskii
• Euphorbia rzedowskii
• Galium rzedowskii
• Habenaria rzedowskiana
• Jatropha rzedowskii
• Magnolia rzedowskiana
• Pachyphytum rzedowskii
• Pinus rzedowskii
• Psilocybe rzedowskii
• Rondeletia rzedowskii
• Rzedowskia tolantonguensis
• Schoenocaulon rzedowskii
• Sedum jerzedowskii

See also

In Spanish: Jerzy Rzedowski para niños