1733-1806

German Botanist

Josef Gottlieb Köhlreuter was a German botanist who, in the mid-eighteenth century, made a number of extremely important discoveries about plant genetics and reproduction. His work in many ways foreshadowed that of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) and helped to establish that plants, like animals, could be thought of as having two distinct sexes. He also made important progress in developing plant hybrids, and studied plant pollinization.

Köhlreuter was born in the city of Sulz in 1733. Educated at the universities of Berlin and Leipzig, he earned a degree in medicine from the latter. He was not, however, to make his reputation as a physician but, rather, as a botanist.

Beginning in 1761, Köhlreuter published a number of landmark papers on plant breeding that, unfortunately, were to go unrecognized until many years after his death. In his first...