{{Short description|American physician (1821–1886)}} {{about||the American chemist and his son|William Francis Hillebrand}}
{{Infobox scientist |name = William Hillebrand |image = William Hillebrand (PP-72-8-013).jpg |image_size = 170px |caption = |birth_date = {{birth-date|November 13, 1821}} |birth_place = Nieheim, Westphalia, Germany |death_date = {{death-date and age|July 13, 1886|November 13, 1821}} |death_place = Heidelberg, Germany |field = Botany, medicine |work_institution = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = |prizes = |footnotes = }} '''Wilhelm''' or '''William Hillebrand''' (November 13, 1821 – July 13, 1886) was a German physician. He practiced medicine in several countries, including the Hawaiian Islands for over 20 years. In 1850, Hillebrand lived at what is now Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu and gained acknowledgement as a botanist.
==Life and career== Hillebrand was born on November 13, 1821, in Nieheim, Province of Westphalia, Prussia. His father was Judge Franz Josef Hillebrand, and mother Louise Pauline Konig.<ref name="hjh">{{cite journal | last = Greer | first = Richard A. | title = Founding of the Queen's Hospital | journal = Hawaiian Journal of History | volume = 3 | pages = 110–145 | publisher = Hawaiian Historical Society | location = Honolulu | year = 1969 | pmid = 11632066 | hdl = 10524/288}}</ref> He studied medicine at Heidelberg and Berlin, and practiced at Paderborn. He sought a warmer climate to recover from a lung problem, (perhaps tuberculosis), first traveling to Australia in 1849, and then the Philippines.<ref name="anbg.gov.au">{{cite web |title= Hilleband, William (1821 - 1886) |author= Darrell N. Kraehenbuehl |publisher= Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium |work= Biography |url= http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/hillebrand-william.html |date= November 13, 2007 |access-date= 2010-01-09 }}</ref>
Hillebrand then went to San Francisco and finally arrived in the Hawaii on December 22, 1850. He stayed for a little over 20 years and made significant contributions to local medical practice. He was able to speak the Hawaiian language as well as his native German, English, Latin, and French.<ref name="hjh"/>
He went into practice with Dr. Wesley Newcomb, and married his stepdaughter Anna Post on November 16, 1852.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ulukau.org/gsdl2.7/cgi-bin/algene?e=q&a=d&d=D10-000157&gg=1 |title= Oahu marriage record 1832-1900 |work=state archives digital collections |publisher=state of Hawaii |access-date= 2010-01-09 }}</ref> In 1853, Hillebrand purchased {{convert|13|acre|m2}} of land from Queen Kalama, just a short distance from where he worked. He had a keen interest in plants, and over the years, planted a number of exotic and native trees in his garden.
Six years after his arrival, he and nine other Honolulu physicians petitioned to charter an organization called the Hawaiian Medical Society. Two months later, the petition was granted. Today, it is the Hawaii Medical Association. After the death of Thomas Charles Byde Rooke in 1858, he was appointed physician to the royal family of King Kamehameha IV. Hillebrand also served as chief (and only) physician at The Queen's Hospital (now The Queen's Medical Center),<ref>{{cite web |title= The Queen's Medical Center |url= http://www.queensmedicalcenter.net |work= web site |access-date= 2010-01-09 }}</ref> from 1860 to 1871. The hospital was named after Queen Emma, Dr. Rooke's adoptive daughter who was Kamehameha IV's wife.
In 1865 he was appointed to the King's Privy Council, the Board of Health, and Bureau of Immigration.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHf43b/5c8337c3.dir/Hillebrand,%20William%20Dr.jpg |title= Hillebrand, Dr. William office record |work= state archives digital collections |publisher= state of Hawaii |access-date= 2010-01-09 |archive-date= 2012-03-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120306202910/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHf43b/5c8337c3.dir/Hillebrand,%20William%20Dr.jpg |url-status= dead }}</ref> In April 1865 Hillebrand traveled to Asia and the East Indies on behalf of the Hawaiian government. He had three main goals: to find sources of labor for the sugarcane plantations, to learn about the latest treatments for leprosy, and to collect and import plants and animals that would be useful to the Islands. Hillebrand wrote an article on leprosy that was published in 1883.<ref>{{cite news |title= Hawaii's Gardens: German doctor's botanical legacy still thrives |author= Winnie Singeo |newspaper= Honolulu Advertiser |date= May 6, 2005 |url= http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/06/il/il08a.html |access-date=2010-01-09 }}</ref> Another European immigrant to Hawaii, Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884–1962) would continue Hillebrand's work of identifying Hawaiian species.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Alvin K. Chock |title= J. F. Rock, 1884-1962 |journal= The Quarterly Bulletin of the American Rhododendron Society |publisher= Journal American Rhododendron Society |date= April 15, 1963 |volume =17| issue = 2 |url= http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JARS/v17n2/v17n2-chock.htm |access-date= 2010-01-09 }}</ref>
Hillebrand moved back to Germany in 1871. In 1877 he arranged for the first immigrants from Portugal to come to Hawaii as plantation workers.<ref name="hjh"/> For nearly a decade he considered returning to Hawaii. In 1880, he determined that would never happen, so sold his home to shipping entrepreneur Captain Thomas Foster and his wife Mary, who lived on an adjacent lot.<ref>{{cite news |title= Foster Botanical Garden oasis amid bustling downtown Oahu |author= Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi |date= July 13, 2008 |newspaper= Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/07/13/travel/tsutsumi.html |access-date=2010-01-09 }}</ref> Years later, Mary Foster bequeathed the land to the city, which opened it to the public as Foster Botanical Garden in 1930.<ref>{{cite web |title= Foster Botanical Garden |url= http://www.co.honolulu.hi.us/parks/hbg/fbg.htm |publisher= City and County of Honolulu |access-date=2010-01-09 |date= September 25, 2009 }}</ref>
He died July 13, 1886, in Heidelberg. He is the father of William Francis Hillebrand (1853–1925), an American chemist.
==Awards and honors== * Many plants are named in his honor, including the genus ''Hillebrandia'', ''Diospyros hillebrandii'', ''Gouania hillebrandii'', ''Lobelia hillebrandii'', ''Lysimachia hillebrandii'', ''Pritchardia hillebrandii'', ''Dubautia linearis'' subsp. ''hillebrandii'', ''Sicyos hillebrandii'', ''Cyperus hillebrandii'', ''Geranium hillebrandii'', and ''Phyllostegia hillebrandii'', all endemic to Hawaii,<ref>{{cite web |title= Flora of the Hawaiian Islands |url= https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/hawaiianflora/query2.cfm |work= web site |access-date= 2021-03-06 }}</ref> and ''Veronica hillebrandii'' and ''Phebalium hillebrandii'' from Australia.<ref name="anbg.gov.au" />
==Publications and Botanical Legacy == Hillebrand authored the following work: {{cite book |title= Flora of the Hawaiian Islands: a description of their phanerogams and vascular cryptogams |author= William Hillebrand |url= https://archive.org/details/florahawaiianis00unkngoog |year=1888 |publisher= Williams & Norgate }}
Specimens collected by Hillebrand are cared for at herbaria worldwide, including the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria,<ref name="MEL">{{Cite web| url = https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=collector_text%3A%22Hillebrand%2C+W.B.%22+AND+collection_uid%3Aco55| title = AVH: The Australasian Virtual Herbarium| website = Atlas of Living Australia| access-date = 15 November 2024}}</ref> the Natural History Museum of the United Kingdom, the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.<ref name="bionomia">{{Cite web| url = https://bionomia.net/Q77663/deposited-at| title = Specimens collected by William Hillebrand | website = Bionomia | access-date = 15 November 2024}}</ref>
{{botanist|Hillebr.|Hillebrand, William}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |title= Hawaii's Pioneer Botanist: Dr. William Hillebrand, His Life & Letters |author= Ursula H. Meier |publisher= Bishop Museum Press |date= October 30, 2005 |isbn= 1-58178-047-8 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillebrand, William}} Category:1821 births Category:1886 deaths Category:People from Höxter (district) Category:People from the Province of Westphalia Category:American botanists Category:Medical doctors from North Rhine-Westphalia Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom Privy Council Category:Members of the Hawaii Board of Health Category:Medical doctors from Hawaii