German paleobotanist. Richard Kräusel was one of the world's eminent paleobotanists. His published works, covering a wide spectrum of botanical and paleobotanical subjects, include major contributions on such topics as early land plants of the Devonian, Mesozoic floras of Europe, cuticles of Tertiary angiosperm leaves, and fossil angiosperm coniferous wood. His Devonian work, created together with his friend Dr Hermann Weyland, brought him particular recognition. It was a field waiting to be explored after Kidston and Lang completed their examinations of the Rhynie chert in 1917. His work on the North American Devonian took him on two major journeys through the United States and Canada. In Europe, he achieved remarkable results working with the Mesozoic flora of southern Germany, Austria (Lunz) and Switzerland (Nevewelt by Basle). The examination of the Ginkgophytes and the Bennettiteen in this field is mainly his achievement alone. He also took part in the anatomical analysis of leaf remains from the rhenish lignite.

Born in Breslau, Germany, Kräusel studied botany and paleobotany at the University of Breslau, where he was assigned to the study of fossil woods of Silesia. His PhD dissertation (1913) on the wood from Silesian lignite, Beiträge zur kenntnis der Holzer aus der schlesischen Braunkohle is still an important work and led to a monograph on fossil conifer woods and to his popular paleobotanical book Versunkene Flora. A prolific researcher and writer who published over 250 papers, he travelled widely, studying and collecting fossil plants in Southeast Asia (1921, 1926), South America (1924, 1947), and South West Africa (1928).

From 1920 until his retirement in 1952, Kräusel's was a lecturer and professor at the University of Frankfurt, where he became closely associated with the Senckenberg Natural History Museum, eventually as director of the Division of Botany-Paleobotany. On his 60th birthday, the museum honoured him with the Eiserne Seckenberg medal for helping to establish the Senckenberg's collection of fossil plants. During the Second World War, his collections were moved for safekeeping to a nearby castle, which was destroyed during the raids on Frankfurt; all of the type material, and many other valuable fossils from his collection, were lost. Thereafter he set out to rebuild his research collection. His interest in the flora of Gondwanaland, and the destruction of his early collections, motivated him to undertake long journeys to South and South West Africa (1953-1954, 1963), Brazil (1956-1957), and India (1960-1961). During his sojourn in India he taught at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany in Lucknow.

Through his research, travels, and attendance at international botanical congresses, he was known throughout the world. In 1954 he was elected a corresponding member of the Botanical Society of America; in 1957 a member of the Deutschen Academy of Naturforscher; in 1959, an honorary member of the International Association of Paleobotany; and in 1963 the University of Durham presented him with an honorary doctorate.