Biography

German forest botanist and mycologist. Born in Nuremberg, Neger studied natural sciences at the University of Munich, where he gained his doctorate in 1892. After a year as a high school teacher in Weihenstephan he travelled to Chile as a scientist and advisor with the Chilean Boundary Commission. Remaining in the country for five years, he explored the vicinity of Concepcion and made a five-month-long expedition in the Andes in 1896-1897 which took him from Valdivia through awe-inspiring virgin forests. He published an account of the trek in the Munich Allgemeinen Zeitung in 1899 and wrote more than 20 reports on his botanical findings, including the paper "Pflanzengeographisches aus den südlichen Anden und Patagonien", ("Plant geography in the southern Andes and Patagonia") published in the Anales de la Universidad de Chile (Santiago) and in Botanische Jahrbücher (1900).

On his return to Germany he was appointed curator of the herbarium at Munich (1897-1902) and later professor of botany at the forestry college of Eisenach (1902-1905), where he moved with his new Swedish wife. Their domestic bliss did not last long, however; he was widowed within a year of their wedding. Leaving behind this trauma he moved to Tharandt near Dresden, where he spent 15 years as professor of botany at the forestry college there. He remarried in 1908 and became a father the following year. Happy once more, Neger and his family lived in a beautiful house in the grounds of the arboretum with wonderful views of the wooded mountains of Saxony. Leaving this idyll pained Neger, but when he was offered a position at the University of Dresden in 1920 he could not refuse. During his 15-year tenure in Tharandt he undertook several trips in Europe, to Spain, Croatia, Corsica and to Sweden, where he struck up a long-lasting friendship with Per Dusén. He spent the last three years of his life as director of the Botanic Institute and Botanic Garden in Dresden. He died before the age of 60 due to health problems exacerbated by malaria contracted in Chile.

Apart from his many observations on the Chilean flora, Neger also produced the longer works Die Nadelhölzer (The conifers, 1907), Die Laubhölzer (Broadleaved trees, 1914) and a volume on diseases of forest and garden trees, Die Krankheiten unserer Waldbäume und der wichtigsten Gartenhölze (1924), which was heavily biased towards fungal infections, his area of expertise. Prior to this appeared his text Biologie der Pflanzen auf experimenteller Grundlage (Bionomie) (Experimental Plant Biology (Bionomie)), which looked at adaptations arising in plant communities. The fungi genera Negeriella Hennings and Mikronegeria P. Dietel are named after him.

Sources:
O. Drude, 1923, "Franz Wilhelm Neger", Berichte der Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft, 41: (84)-(92)
E. Muench, 1925, Botanisches Archiv, 9: 1-3
R. Schwede, 1924, "Franz Neger", Sitzungsberichte und Abhandlungen der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Isis, in Dresden, 1923-1924: 970-975.

Biography

German forest botanist and mycologist. Born in Nuremberg, Neger studied natural sciences at the University of Munich, where he gained his doctorate in 1892. After a year as a high school teacher in Weihenstephan he travelled to Chile as a scientist and advisor with the Chilean Boundary Commission. Remaining in the country for five years, he explored the vicinity of Concepcion and made a five-month-long expedition in the Andes in 1896-1897 which took him from Valdivia through awe-inspiring virgin forests. He published an account of the trek in the Munich Allgemeinen Zeitung in 1899 and wrote more than 20 reports on his botanical findings, including the paper "Pflanzengeographisches aus den südlichen Anden und Patagonien", ("Plant geography in the southern Andes and Patagonia") published in the Anales de la Universidad de Chile (Santiago) and in Botanische Jahrbücher (1900).

On his return to Germany he was appointed curator of the herbarium at Munich (1897-1902) and later professor of botany at the forestry college of Eisenach (1902-1905), where he moved with his new Swedish wife. Their domestic bliss did not last long, however; he was widowed within a year of their wedding. Leaving behind this trauma he moved to Tharandt near Dresden, where he spent 15 years as professor of botany at the forestry college there. He remarried in 1908 and became a father the following year. Happy once more, Neger and his family lived in a beautiful house in the grounds of the arboretum with wonderful views of the wooded mountains of Saxony. Leaving this idyll pained Neger, but when he was offered a position at the University of Dresden in 1920 he could not refuse. During his 15-year tenure in Tharandt he undertook several trips in Europe, to Spain, Croatia, Corsica and to Sweden, where he struck up a long-lasting friendship with Per Dusén. He spent the last three years of his life as director of the Botanic Institute and Botanic Garden in Dresden. He died before the age of 60 due to health problems exacerbated by malaria contracted in Chile.

Apart from his many observations on the Chilean flora, Neger also produced the longer works Die Nadelhölzer (The conifers, 1907), Die Laubhölzer (Broadleaved trees, 1914) and a volume on diseases of forest and garden trees, Die Krankheiten unserer Waldbäume und der wichtigsten Gartenhölze (1924), which was heavily biased towards fungal infections, his area of expertise. Prior to this appeared his text Biologie der Pflanzen auf experimenteller Grundlage (Bionomie) (Experimental Plant Biology (Bionomie)), which looked at adaptations arising in plant communities. The fungi genera Negeriella Hennings and Mikronegeria P. Dietel are named after him.

Sources:
O. Drude, 1923, "Franz Wilhelm Neger", Berichte der Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft, 41: (84)-(92)
E. Muench, 1925, Botanisches Archiv, 9: 1-3
R. Schwede, 1924, "Franz Neger", Sitzungsberichte und Abhandlungen der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Isis, in Dresden, 1923-1924: 970-975.

Biography

German forest botanist and mycologist. Born in Nuremberg, Neger studied natural sciences at the University of Munich, where he gained his doctorate in 1892. After a year as a high school teacher in Weihenstephan he travelled to Chile as a scientist and advisor with the Chilean Boundary Commission. Remaining in the country for five years, he explored the vicinity of Concepcion and made a five-month-long expedition in the Andes in 1896-1897 which took him from Valdivia through awe-inspiring virgin forests. He published an account of the trek in the Munich Allgemeinen Zeitung in 1899 and wrote more than 20 reports on his botanical findings, including the paper "Pflanzengeographisches aus den südlichen Anden und Patagonien", ("Plant geography in the southern Andes and Patagonia") published in the Anales de la Universidad de Chile (Santiago) and in Botanische Jahrbücher (1900).

On his return to Germany he was appointed curator of the herbarium at Munich (1897-1902) and later professor of botany at the forestry college of Eisenach (1902-1905), where he moved with his new Swedish wife. Their domestic bliss did not last long, however; he was widowed within a year of their wedding. Leaving behind this trauma he moved to Tharandt near Dresden, where he spent 15 years as professor of botany at the forestry college there. He remarried in 1908 and became a father the following year. Happy once more, Neger and his family lived in a beautiful house in the grounds of the arboretum with wonderful views of the wooded mountains of Saxony. Leaving this idyll pained Neger, but when he was offered a position at the University of Dresden in 1920 he could not refuse. During his 15-year tenure in Tharandt he undertook several trips in Europe, to Spain, Croatia, Corsica and to Sweden, where he struck up a long-lasting friendship with Per Dusén. He spent the last three years of his life as director of the Botanic Institute and Botanic Garden in Dresden. He died before the age of 60 due to health problems exacerbated by malaria contracted in Chile.

Apart from his many observations on the Chilean flora, Neger also produced the longer works Die Nadelhölzer (The conifers, 1907), Die Laubhölzer (Broadleaved trees, 1914) and a volume on diseases of forest and garden trees, Die Krankheiten unserer Waldbäume und der wichtigsten Gartenhölze (1924), which was heavily biased towards fungal infections, his area of expertise. Prior to this appeared his text Biologie der Pflanzen auf experimenteller Grundlage (Bionomie) (Experimental Plant Biology (Bionomie)), which looked at adaptations arising in plant communities. The fungi genera Negeriella Hennings and Mikronegeria P. Dietel are named after him.

Sources:
O. Drude, 1923, "Franz Wilhelm Neger", Berichte der Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft, 41: (84)-(92)
E. Muench, 1925, Botanisches Archiv, 9: 1-3
R. Schwede, 1924, "Franz Neger", Sitzungsberichte und Abhandlungen der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Isis, in Dresden, 1923-1924: 970-975.