Richard Wettstein

Richard Wettstein, born on June thirtieth, eighteen sixty-three, was a prominent Austrian botanist and mycologist whose contributions to the field of botany were significant and lasting. He developed the Wettstein system, one of the earliest taxonomic systems based on phyletic principles, which laid the groundwork for future botanical classification.

Wettstein's academic journey began in Vienna, where he studied under the esteemed Anton Kerner von Marilaun. His personal life intertwined with his professional pursuits when he married Kerner's daughter, Adele. In eighteen eighty-two, he co-founded the Natural Science Association at the University of Vienna with his friend Karl Eggerth, fostering a community of budding scientists.

His career flourished as he became a professor at the University of Prague in eighteen ninety-two and later returned to the University of Vienna in eighteen ninety-nine, where he played a pivotal role in redesigning the university's Botanical Garden. His leadership extended beyond academia; in nineteen hundred and one, he was elected president of the Vienna Zoological-Botanical Society and participated in a scientific expedition to Brazil.

Wettstein's influence continued to grow, and in nineteen nineteen, he was appointed vice-president of the Vienna Academy of Sciences. His later years were marked by travels to eastern and southern Africa with his son, Friedrich, between nineteen twenty-nine and nineteen thirty. His legacy is honored through the mycological genus Wettsteinina and the flowering plant genus Wettsteiniola, both named in his honor.

In nineteen hundred and five, he served as co-president of the International Botanical Congress held in Vienna, and in nineteen thirteen, he edited and distributed the final fascicles of the renowned Flora exsiccata Austro-Hungarica, a significant contribution to botanical literature.