August Schenk

August Schenk

Joseph August Schenk (17 April 1815, in Hallein – 30 March 1891, in Leipzig) was an Austrian-born, German botanist and paleobotanist.

In 1837, he obtained his medical doctorate from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, followed by studies in botany at the University of Erlangen, the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, and the University of Vienna. In 1840, he earned his PhD in botany at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and during the following year, received his habilitation for botany with the dissertation "Genera et species Cyperacearum, quae in regno Graeco, archipelago et in insulis". From 1850 to 1868, he was a full professor of botany at the University of Würzburg, followed by a professorship at Leipzig University (1868 to 1887), where he was a successor to Georg Heinrich Mettenius. At Leipzig, he was also director of its botanical gardens.

The genus Schenkia (family Gentianaceae) was named in honor by August Grisebach in 1853.

Published works

With Christian Luerssen, he was co-author of Mittheilungen aus dem Gesammtgebiete der Botanik (Volume 1-2, 1874). Also, he made contributions towards Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen's "China" (Volume 4), and edited the section on Alstroemeriaceae in Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius' Flora Brasiliensis. The following are a few of Schenk's principal works:

The standard author abbreviation Schenk is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Prof. Dr. med. et phil. Joseph August Schenk - Universität Leipzig (biographical information)
  2. 1 2 ADB:Schenk, August @ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
  3. ↑ Biodiversity Library
  4. ↑ Google Books China
  5. ↑ WorldCat Title Alstroemeriaceae
  6. ↑ Biodiversity Heritage Library Handbuch der Botanik
  7. ↑ International Plant Names Index. Schenk.