Schleiden, Jacob Matthias

Botanist

born: 05.04.1804 in Hamburg

died: 23.06.1881 in Frankfurt am Main

Schleiden first studied law in Heidelberg (Dr. jur. 1826) and then set up as a lawyer in Hamburg from 1826-31. This was followed by a year studying medicine and botany in Göttingen and its continuation in Berlin with a focus on "plant embryology". This was the beginning of a "restless scholarly existence" in the 19th century.

In 1838, the 34-year-old natural scientist Schleiden suddenly became famous for his "Contributions to Phytogenesis". His scientific career then took him to the University of Jena, where he received his doctorate in 1839, an adjunct professorship in 1840 and a full professorship in 1850. The University of Tübingen awarded him a doctorate in medicine in 1843. His theory of cell formation and recognition of the importance of the cell nucleus caused a fierce scientific dispute, and his acceptance of Charles Darwin's (1809-82) theory of evolution brought him into conflict with the church in particular during his stay in Dorpat (Estonia) in 1863/64, where he had accepted a chair in plant chemistry.

He then lived as a private scholar in Dresden, Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt and spent the last eight years of his life in Wiesbaden in Geisbergstraße, from where he repeatedly set off on lecture tours. Together with the anatomist Theodor Schwann (1810-82), he paved the way for Rudolf Virchow's (1821-1902) famous "cell pathology". The Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig elected Schleiden a full member in 1849.