Julius Sachs,
the outstanding German botanist and plant
physiologist, was born in Breslau in 1837. He left
school in 1851 and became assistant to the
physiologist J.E. Purkinje at Prague. In 1856 he
received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and
established himself as Privatdozent for plant
physiology in the same university. In 1859 he was
appointed physiological assistant to the Agricultural
Academy at Tharandt in Saxony and in 1861 he became a
staff member at the Agricultural Academy at
Pappelsdorf near Bonn. He became Professor of Botany
in the University of Freiburg in Breisgau. In 1868 he
took over the chair in Botany at the University of
Wursburg which he occupied until his death on May 29,
1897.
Sachs was especially distinguished for his part in
the development of plant physiology which marked the
latter half of the 19th Century.
He is noted for the following:
1. Laying the foundation of knowledge of micro
chemical methods and
the morphological and physiological details of
germination.
2. Redevelopment of the method of culture of plants
first used by J.
Woodword in 1699 and applied this to the problems of
plant nutrition.
3. Appearance of starch grains in plants are the
first visible product of
photosynthesis.
4. Suggestion that substances other than
carbohydrates such as growth
regulating substances may regulate flowering in
plants.
Sachs was one of the greatest teachers of the 19th
Century and had a great influence on British and
American botany and horticulture. His works are:
Handbuch der Experimental physiologie der
Pflanzen (1865)
Lehrbuch der Botanik (1868)
English edition (1875) (1882)
Vorlesungen uber Pflanzenphysiologie (1882)
English edition (1887)
Geschichte der Botanik (1875)
English edition (1890)
