Rutger Sernander

1866-1944.

Botanists.

Rutger Sernander became associate professor of plant geography in 1895 and later professor of plant biology from 1908 to 1931.

His research areas included plant distribution biology, lichen biology, forestry, dendrology, archaeology, and the development of climate and plant life in Scandinavia after the ice ages.

Sernander was an internationally recognized scientist and among his works are Den skandinaviska vegetationens spridningsbiologi (1901) and Zur Morphologie der Diasporen (1927).

Sernander also wrote about important places from a natural and cultural point of view. In particular, he wrote about Uppland and Gamla Uppsala, Rickebasta träsk, Flottsund and also the book about Uppsala Kungsäng, which Gustav Sandberg completed and published.

Sernander led an intense struggle to preserve unique plant communities, such as Fiby primeval forest and Uppsala Kungsäng. The platform for nature conservation work became the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which Sernander helped to found in 1909, and was its chairman from 1917-1930.

Professor Sernander with students before 1944, Uppsala University. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet.

Professor Sernander on Upplands fornminnesförenings spring excursion, Uppland 1936. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet.

Burial site: 0149-1955

Image description: Rutger Sernander, Uppsala ca 1895, photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Elias Fries

1794-1878.

Botanist, mycologist.

Elias Fries came from Femsjö in Småland and was the son of the minister Thore Fries and Sara Elisabeth Wernelin. He became one of the leading figures in mycology, producing writings that are still of scientific importance today.

Fries originally studied at Lund University and became an associate professor of botany at the age of 20.

He later moved to Uppsala University and in 1851 became Professor of Practical Economics and Botany. He was also prefect of the botanical garden and museum there.

Fries was particularly interested in the study of fungi, but his research touched on all areas of botany. His most influential work was Systema mycologicum, which was Fries' plant systematics work on fungi. Other mycological works were Elenchusfungorum and Hymenomycetes europaei.

Fries promoted the use of mushrooms as food, through the poster Sweden's edible and poisonous mushrooms. The interest in mycology was passed on to several of the children. For example, his son and daughter, Elias Petrus and Susanna (Sanna) Christina, drew several mushroom plates, several of which are preserved in Uppsala.

Fries also published the popular science essays Botaniska utflygter (1-3, 1843-1864).

In addition to being a university rector, Elias Fries was also a member of parliament and became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1847.

Title page from Elias Fries "Sveriges Ätliga och Giftiga Svampar", Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Spread from Elias Fries "Sveriges Ätliga och Giftiga Svampar", Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm, 1860. Photo: Bukowskis Auktioner AB.

Burial site: 0103-0185

Image description: Elias Fries, Uppsala 1860s. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Vivi Täckholm

1898-1978.

Botanist, author.

Vivi Täckholm studied at Stockholm University and conducted botanical studies in Berlin, London and Geneva.

In 1926, she and her husband, Professor of Botany Gunnar Täckholm, moved to Cairo and together they mapped the plant world of Egypt.

After her husband's death in 1933, she completed work on the Flora of Egypt, which was published in four parts, Part 1 (1941), Part 2 (1944), Part 3 (1954) and Part 4 (1966). In 1946, Täckholm became Professor of Botany at the University of Cairo and lived there for most of her life.

Täckholm also published several popular botanical works, such as Pharaoh's Flowers (1951), Egypt in Close-up (1964), The Desert in Bloom (1969) and The Minarets of the Saga (1971).

Vivi Täckholm also wrote children's books, such as The Saga of Snipp Snapp Snorum (1926) and Lillans resa till månen (1976). In the 1960s, Täckholm also gained a lot of attention through several TV programs.

 

Burial site: 0131-1356

Image description: Vivi Täckholm, year unknown. Photo: Staffan Norstedt / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
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Carl Peter Thunberg

1743-1828.

Botanist, doctor.

In 1770, after studying with Carl Linnaeus, Carl Peter Thunberg embarked on a nine-year trip abroad that began in the Netherlands. There Thunberg met the most prominent botanists of the time.

Thunberg then studied medicine in Paris before sailing from the Netherlands to Cape Town as a ship's doctor, staying for three years to explore the nature of the area. These studies were documented in Flora capensis (1-3, 1807-1813). Thunberg was the first to describe the flora of South Africa and has therefore been called the father of South African flora.

In 1775 Thunberg continued to Japan where he collected material for his Flora japonica (1784). The work was epoch-making for the knowledge of Japan's plant world and Thunberg received the honorary name Japan's Linnaeus.

Plate of Japanese maple taken from Icones plantarum Japonicarum [plate 5 part V, 1805]. Photo: UUB.

Illustration (frontispiece) from Voyages de C. P. Thunberg au Japon [...], tome I, Paris, An. IV [1796]. Photo: UUB.

In 1779 Thunberg returned to Uppsala and in 1784 succeeded Carl Linnaeus the Younger as professor of medicine and botany.

Thunberg also published Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia förrättad åren 1770-1779 (1-4, 1788-1793). The collections from the trips were deposited at the University Library.

Carl Peter Thunberg's farm Tunaberg north of Svartbäcken in Uppsala, where he lived for the rest of his long life, was known for its excellent horticultural crops well into the 1940s.

 

Burial site: 0101-0103

Image description: Portrait Carl Peter Thunberg, 1808, artist Pehr Krafft the Younger. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt / GustavianumThe image is cropped]
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