Biography

German botanist, agriculturalist and zionist from Hamburg, born into a wealthy family of bankers. He trained at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Hamburg, later gaining a PhD from the University of Strasbourg (1883). He subsequently studied under the chemist J.F.W.A. von Baeyer (1835-1917) at the University of Munich (1883-1884) and then under the plant physiologist W.F.P. Pfeffer (1845-1920) at T⟼bingen. Warburg joined the University of Berlin as a lecturer and was later appointed professor (1891-1921). He collected widely during a botanical expedition to the Far East and Australia (1885-1889), the specimens indicated by the label Iter Warburgianum. He was associated with Adolf Engler and wrote an account of Pandanaceae for Das Pflanzenreich.

The second half of his career was increasingly involved in tropical agriculture and he was co-founder and editor of the journal Der Tropenpflanzer (1897-1903). Warburg had become a prominent Zionist after undertaking an extensive tour of Palestine, Cyprus and Anatolia (1899-1900). He was asked to chair the Eretz Israel Committee after the third Zionist Congress (1903), was later elected president of the World Zionist Organization (1911-1919) and was one of the founders of Kvuzat Degania (1908), the first communal settlement in Palestine (Israel after 1948). He was agricultural adviser to a committee (the Kolonialwirtschaftlichen Komitees) for the development of German colonies, particularly in Africa, but both this and his leadership role in Zionism came to an end after the First World War. He became involved in the development of scientific institutions in Palestine and in 1921 was appointed director of the Agricultural Research Station in Tel-Aviv, an organisation later moved to Rehovot and renamed the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was also director of the Institute of Natural History of Palestine (1921-c.1937).

In 1925 Warburg was asked by the Hebrew University to be the Founding Chairman of its Department of Botany and was also a founder of the former Mount Scopus Botanical Garden of the Hebrew University. The Otto Warburg Minerva Center for Agricultural Biotechnology was named in honour of Otto Warburg. Genera also named after him include the phanerogams Warburgia Engl. (nom. cons.) and Warburgina Eig, and the bryophyte genus Warburgiella M⟼ll. Hal. ex Broth. Otto Warburg is sometimes confused with his relative the biochemist and nobel laureate O.H. Warburg (1883-1970).

Biography

German botanist, agriculturalist and zionist from Hamburg, born into a wealthy family of bankers. He trained at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Hamburg, later gaining a PhD from the University of Strasbourg (1883). He subsequently studied under the chemist J.F.W.A. von Baeyer (1835-1917) at the University of Munich (1883-1884) and then under the plant physiologist W.F.P. Pfeffer (1845-1920) at T⟼bingen. Warburg joined the University of Berlin as a lecturer and was later appointed professor (1891-1921). He collected widely during a botanical expedition to the Far East and Australia (1885-1889), the specimens indicated by the label Iter Warburgianum. He was associated with Adolf Engler and wrote an account of Pandanaceae for Das Pflanzenreich.

The second half of his career was increasingly involved in tropical agriculture and he was co-founder and editor of the journal Der Tropenpflanzer (1897-1903). Warburg had become a prominent Zionist after undertaking an extensive tour of Palestine, Cyprus and Anatolia (1899-1900). He was asked to chair the Eretz Israel Committee after the third Zionist Congress (1903), was later elected president of the World Zionist Organization (1911-1919) and was one of the founders of Kvuzat Degania (1908), the first communal settlement in Palestine (Israel after 1948). He was agricultural adviser to a committee (the Kolonialwirtschaftlichen Komitees) for the development of German colonies, particularly in Africa, but both this and his leadership role in Zionism came to an end after the First World War. He became involved in the development of scientific institutions in Palestine and in 1921 was appointed director of the Agricultural Research Station in Tel-Aviv, an organisation later moved to Rehovot and renamed the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was also director of the Institute of Natural History of Palestine (1921-c.1937).

In 1925 Warburg was asked by the Hebrew University to be the Founding Chairman of its Department of Botany and was also a founder of the former Mount Scopus Botanical Garden of the Hebrew University. The Otto Warburg Minerva Center for Agricultural Biotechnology was named in honour of Otto Warburg. Genera also named after him include the phanerogams Warburgia Engl. (nom. cons.) and Warburgina Eig, and the bryophyte genus Warburgiella M⟼ll. Hal. ex Broth. Otto Warburg is sometimes confused with his relative the biochemist and nobel laureate O.H. Warburg (1883-1970).

Biography

German botanist, agriculturalist and zionist from Hamburg, born into a wealthy family of bankers. He trained at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Hamburg, later gaining a PhD from the University of Strasbourg (1883). He subsequently studied under the chemist J.F.W.A. von Baeyer (1835-1917) at the University of Munich (1883-1884) and then under the plant physiologist W.F.P. Pfeffer (1845-1920) at T⟼bingen. Warburg joined the University of Berlin as a lecturer and was later appointed professor (1891-1921). He collected widely during a botanical expedition to the Far East and Australia (1885-1889), the specimens indicated by the label Iter Warburgianum. He was associated with Adolf Engler and wrote an account of Pandanaceae for Das Pflanzenreich.

The second half of his career was increasingly involved in tropical agriculture and he was co-founder and editor of the journal Der Tropenpflanzer (1897-1903). Warburg had become a prominent Zionist after undertaking an extensive tour of Palestine, Cyprus and Anatolia (1899-1900). He was asked to chair the Eretz Israel Committee after the third Zionist Congress (1903), was later elected president of the World Zionist Organization (1911-1919) and was one of the founders of Kvuzat Degania (1908), the first communal settlement in Palestine (Israel after 1948). He was agricultural adviser to a committee (the Kolonialwirtschaftlichen Komitees) for the development of German colonies, particularly in Africa, but both this and his leadership role in Zionism came to an end after the First World War. He became involved in the development of scientific institutions in Palestine and in 1921 was appointed director of the Agricultural Research Station in Tel-Aviv, an organisation later moved to Rehovot and renamed the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was also director of the Institute of Natural History of Palestine (1921-c.1937).

In 1925 Warburg was asked by the Hebrew University to be the Founding Chairman of its Department of Botany and was also a founder of the former Mount Scopus Botanical Garden of the Hebrew University. The Otto Warburg Minerva Center for Agricultural Biotechnology was named in honour of Otto Warburg. Genera also named after him include the phanerogams Warburgia Engl. (nom. cons.) and Warburgina Eig, and the bryophyte genus Warburgiella M⟼ll. Hal. ex Broth. Otto Warburg is sometimes confused with his relative the biochemist and nobel laureate O.H. Warburg (1883-1970).