German natural scientist sent to Chile in 1889 to teach in and direct the newly created 'Instituto Pedagógico'. Born in Kolmar, Pomerania (present day Poland) Friedrich Johow began his studies in Silesia before moving to Berlin in 1877 to study natural sciences at the university there. Johow later received a PhD in zoology, botany and practical chemistry from the University of Bonn. In 1882 he began to teach natural sciences at secondary level in various schools in Germany and later took part in an expedition for the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin to the Lesser Antilles and Venezuela.
In 1888 he returned to the University of Bonn where he was named professor, and it was from this position that he was chosen to relocate to Chile. At this time the ambassador of Chile in Berlin was tasked with gathering German professors to populate a new institute of higher education in Santiago. Johow was chosen to be professor of natural sciences and the first director of the institution, a role which meant that his first three years were spent in the organisation of the furniture, the library and the laboratories, but by 1892 he had dedicated himself to his teaching and research. That same decade he was also named professor of biology at the National Institute and the School of Application and later began teaching courses in medicinal botany at the Military School and the School of Pharmacy, the latter of which he took over from Federico Philippi in 1906.
Johow often took his students on expeditions around Santiago where they collected plants and insects. During his 36 years teaching in Santiago Johow's most important work was his floristic study of the Juan Fernández archipelago, a set of investigations which were highly influenced by the work of Charles Darwin on the Galapagos Islands, and from which he published a series of articles including "Plants Cultivated on Juan Fernández" and "Ferns of Juan Fernández", published in the Anales de la Universidad de Chile from 1893. His other important botanic publications include a "Biology of the Pollination of Chilean Flowers" and the "Study of Chilean Palms". Johow retired in 1925, eight years before his death in Valparaéso.
Sources:
Bahamande N., N., 2005, "Homenaje al Profesor Pormenio Antonio Yánez Andrade", In: Figueroa B., E. Ed. Biodiversidad Marina: Valoración, Usos y Perspectivas: hacia dónde va Chile? Editorial Universitaria. Santiago.
Riquel, D., 2008, "Federico Johow", Universidad de Concepción:
http://diegolriquelme.blogspot.com/2008/11/federico-johow.html
Federico Johow. Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Johow.
