{{Short description|German botanist}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Johann Hedwig |image = Johann Hedwig.jpg |image_size = frameless |caption = Johann Hedwig, 1793 |birth_date = 8 December 1730 |birth_place = Principality of Transylvania |death_date = {{death-date and age|18 February 1799|8 December 1730}} |death_place = |residence = |citizenship = |ethnicity = |field = Botany |work_institutions = |alma_mater = University of Leipzig |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Bryology |author_abbrev_bot = Hedw. }} '''Johann Hedwig''' (8 December 1730 – 18 February 1799), also styled as '''Johannes Hedwig''', was a German botanist notable for his studies of mosses. He is sometimes called the "father of bryology". He is known for his particular observations of sexual reproduction in the cryptogams.<ref name=sci>{{Cite web|url=http://scihi.org/johann-hedwig-bryology/|title = Johann Hedwig – the Father of Bryology|date = 8 December 2017}}</ref> Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as '''Ioannis Hedwig''' or '''Ioanne Hedwig'''. {{Botanist|Hedw.|inline=yes}}
==Early life==
Hedwig was born in Brașov, Transylvania, on 8 December 1730. As the son of a shoemaker, he grew up in poverty. It was in his childhood he became fascinated with mosses.<ref name=one>Isely, Duane. One Hundred and One Botanists. Purdue University Press, 2002.</ref> He went on to study medicine at the University of Leipzig, and received his medical degree in 1759.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Hedwig|title = Johann Hedwig | Transylvanian botanist}}</ref>
==Career== thumb|right|Cover of ''Species Muscorum Frondosorum'' thumb|right|Plate from ''Species Muscorum Frondosorum'' After receiving his degree, Hedwig worked as a physician for the next twenty years. When he was not granted a license to practice in Transylvania with his Leipzig degree, he worked as a general practitioner in Chemnitz. It was during this time when he first pursued botany as a hobby.<ref name=sci /> He would routinely collect samples in the morning before work, then study his accumulation in the evening. He also was gifted a microscope and a small library, courtesy of Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber.<ref name=one />
Hedwig was very skilled at both microscopy and biological illustration. He was able to identify and illustrate moss antheridia, archegonia and male gametes. He directly observed the germination of spores and formation of the protonema. He was less successful with other sporophytes, being unable to determine the life cycles of ferns or fungi, but he did make useful observations on the algae ''Chara'' and ''Spirogyra'' and he made it clear that he was not the first to get new plants from sowing the spores of mosses, David Meese having done it before him.<ref name="Morton 81">'''Morton, A.G.''' 1981. ''History of Botanical Science.'' Academic Press Inc. (London) Ltd. {{ISBN|0-12-508382-3}}</ref><ref>Meyer, Samuel L. “Physiological Studies on Mosses. VI. Spore Germination and Protonema Development in Physcomitrium Turbinatum (Michx.) Brid.” The Bryologist, vol. 50, no. 4, 1947, pp. 403–408. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3239646.</ref>
In 1781, he moved to Leipzig, where he worked as a doctor at the city hospital. It was here that he published his first major work, the two volume ''Fundamentum historiae naturalis muscorum frondosorum'' in 1782. In 1786, he was hired as an associate professor of medicine at the University of Leipzig. In 1789, he became a professor of botany and director of the botanical garden at the school.<ref name=sci /> In April 1788, he was invited to be a Fellow of the Royal Society.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27hedwig%27%29| title = Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher = Royal Society| access-date = 17 November 2010}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In 1790, he became a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1792, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.<ref name=sci />
His chief work, ''Species muscorum frondosorum'', was published posthumously in 1801. It describes nearly all the moss species then known, and is the starting point for nomenclature of all mosses, except for the ''Sphagnum'' group.
==Legacy== Hedwig was the father of the botanist Romanus Adolf Hedwig. He was also the father-in-law of Christian Daniel Beck and grandfather of {{ill|Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Beck|de|}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz28580.html#ndbcontent_sfz28581|title = Hedwig, Johann - Deutsche Biographie}}</ref>
Today, Hedwig is commemorated both by the moss genus ''Hedwigia'' as well as the peer-reviewed journal ''Nova Hedwigia''. In appreciation of Hedwig's achievements, the International Association of Bryologists awards the Hedwig Medal to scientists for extraordinary contributions in the field of Bryology.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iab-bryologists-website.blogspot.com/2011/03/hedwig-medal.html |title=Bryology.org: Hedwig Medal |access-date=2019-01-18 |archive-date=2019-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110222812/http://iab-bryologists-website.blogspot.com/2011/03/hedwig-medal.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Hedwig's personal herbarium was auctioned off in 1810, but it was largely acquired by the Botanical Garden of Geneva, where the collection is still located today.<ref name=sci />
==Selected publications== *{{cite book|title=Fundamenta historiae naturalis muscorum: concernens etc.|date=1782|publisher=Apud S.L. Crusium|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCNjvwEACAAJ}} *{{cite book|title=Descriptio et adumbratio microscopico-analytica muscorum frondosorum nec non aliorum vegetantium e classe cryptogamica Linnaei novorum dubiisque vexatorum|date=1792|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKtgq7jNhbsC|last1=Hedwig|first1=Johann}} *{{cite book|title=Sammlung seiner zerstreuten Abhandlungen und Beobachtungen über botanisch-ökonomische Gegenstände|date=1793|publisher=Crusius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9w6AAAAcAAJ}} * {{Cite book|title=Theoria generationis et fructificationis plantarum cryptogamicarum|volume=|publisher=Christoph Gottlob Breitkopf & Gottfried Christoph Härtel|location=Leipzig|year=1798|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6513073}} *{{cite book|title=Filicum genera et species. recentiori methodo accomonodatae ... iconibusque illustratae a Romano Adolpho filio|date=1799|publisher=Schaefer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhFJAAAAcAAJ}} *{{cite book|title=Species muscorum frondosorum, descriptae et tabulis aeneis LXXVII coloratis illustratae|date=1801|publisher=sumtu Joannis Ambrosii Barthii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixFEAAAAcAAJ}}
===Editions===
* {{Cite book|title=Descriptio et adumbratio microscopico-analytica muscorum frondosorum nec non aliorum vegetantium a classe cryptogamica Linnaei|volume=1|publisher=Johann Gottfried Müller|location=Leipzig|year=1787|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=7187345}} ** {{Cite book|title=Descriptio et adumbratio microscopico-analytica muscorum frondosorum nec non aliorum vegetantium a classe cryptogamica Linnaei|volume=2|publisher=Johann Gottfried Müller|location=Leipzig|year=1789|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6854873}} ** {{Cite book|title=Descriptio et adumbratio microscopico-analytica muscorum frondosorum nec non aliorum vegetantium a classe cryptogamica Linnaei|volume=4|publisher=Johann Friedrich (2.) Gleditsch, Erben|location=Leipzig|year=1797|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6855482}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.botanicus.org/page/10342 Missouri Botanical Garden]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedwig, Johann}} Category:1730 births Category:1799 deaths Category:18th-century German botanists
Category:German people in the Kingdom of Hungary Category:German bryologists Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Category:German fellows of the Royal Society Category:Academic staff of Leipzig University Category:Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Category:Transylvanian Saxon people