Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches

Meusel, Hermann (German 1909-1997)
phytogeography

Meusel was a student of Wilhelm Troll, himself a major figure in the German botanical circles of his time. In the middle years of the century Meusel became one of the world's leading plant geographers, though his work was not well known to American audiences. Trained in both botany and geology, he used this background to fashion a research career focusing on chorological studies: vegetation assemblage measurement and classification. His two outstanding works came from 1943 and 1965, respectively: Vergleichende Arealkunde, and Vergleichende Chorologie der Zentraleuropäischen Flora. Other important associations: editor of the journal Flora for over twenty years, director of the botanical garden at Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg for nearly thirty years, and director of the Institute for Landscape Research and Nature Protection, 1953-1963.

--born in Coburg, Germany, on 2 November 1909.
--1930: begins college studies in Würzburg
--1935: Ph.D., University of Halle
--1935-1947: research assistant in botany (various positions), University of Halle
--1942-1945: nautical supervisor with the naval weather service
--1943: publishes his Vergleichende Arealkunde in two volumes
--1946-1975: director of the botanical gardens at Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg
--1947-1952: professor of botany, University of Halle
--1950: founds the Institute for Systematic Botany and Botanical Geography, University of Halle
--1952-1975: ordinary professor and head of the Institute for Systematic Botany and Botanical Geography, University of Halle
--1953-1963: director, Institute for Landscape Research and Nature Protection, German Academy of the Agricultural Sciences
--1965: publishes his Vergleichende Chorologie der Zentraleuropäischen Flora in 2 volumes, with Eckehart J. Jäger and Erich Weinert
--1969: made a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina
--1970-1992: editor of the journal Flora
--1973: made an honorary member of the Biological Society of the German Democratic Republic
--1974: awarded the Erinnerungsmedaille from Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg
--1981: made a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
--dies at Halle, Germany, on 3 January 1997.

--Taxonomic Literature, Vol. 3 (1981).
--Flora, Vol. 192(2) (1997): 105-108.
--Hoppea (Regensburg), Vol. 58 (1997): 423-426.
--Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Österreich, Vol. 135 (1998): 381-384.