Biography

German medical doctor from Ehrenbreitstein who trained in natural sciences and medicine at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, qualifying as a doctor in 1865. He joined the navy as a fleet surgeon and travelled on two major journeys. The voyage in the Medusa (1869-1871) took him to South America and into the Pacific where he made botanical collections mainly in Japan and Hong Kong. More important was the circumnavigation of HMS Gazelle (1874-1876), under the command of Capt. Georg von Schleinitz, where he was accompanied by the zoological collector Theophil Studer (1845-1922). Naumann travelled via tropical West Africa and South Africa into the Indian Ocean, then to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Polynesia and New Zealand, eventually returning past Chile into the Atlantic. His health was badly affected by this journey and he left the navy to set up a medical practice at Gera in Germany and eventually died at Kloster Lausnitz. The genus Naumannia Warb. in the Zingiberaceae commemorates F.C. Naumann and many species are named after him, including phanerogams (Freycinetia naumannii Warb. and Eleocharis naumanniana Boeck.), pteridophytes (Heteroneuron naumannii Kuhn = Leptochilus naumannii (Kuhn) C. Chr.), bryophytes (Fossombronia naumannii Schiffn.) and algae (Chantransia naumannii Askenasy. = Colaconema naumannii (Askenasy) Prud'homme, Haroun & L.B.T. Kostermans).

Biography

German medical doctor from Ehrenbreitstein who trained in natural sciences and medicine at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, qualifying as a doctor in 1865. He joined the navy as a fleet surgeon and travelled on two major journeys. The voyage in the Medusa (1869-1871) took him to South America and into the Pacific where he made botanical collections mainly in Japan and Hong Kong. More important was the circumnavigation of HMS Gazelle (1874-1876), under the command of Capt. Georg von Schleinitz, where he was accompanied by the zoological collector Theophil Studer (1845-1922). Naumann travelled via tropical West Africa and South Africa into the Indian Ocean, then to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Polynesia and New Zealand, eventually returning past Chile into the Atlantic. His health was badly affected by this journey and he left the navy to set up a medical practice at Gera in Germany and eventually died at Kloster Lausnitz. The genus Naumannia Warb. in the Zingiberaceae commemorates F.C. Naumann and many species are named after him, including phanerogams (Freycinetia naumannii Warb. and Eleocharis naumanniana Boeck.), pteridophytes (Heteroneuron naumannii Kuhn = Leptochilus naumannii (Kuhn) C. Chr.), bryophytes (Fossombronia naumannii Schiffn.) and algae (Chantransia naumannii Askenasy. = Colaconema naumannii (Askenasy) Prud'homme, Haroun & L.B.T. Kostermans).

Biography

German medical doctor from Ehrenbreitstein who trained in natural sciences and medicine at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, qualifying as a doctor in 1865. He joined the navy as a fleet surgeon and travelled on two major journeys. The voyage in the Medusa (1869-1871) took him to South America and into the Pacific where he made botanical collections mainly in Japan and Hong Kong. More important was the circumnavigation of HMS Gazelle (1874-1876), under the command of Capt. Georg von Schleinitz, where he was accompanied by the zoological collector Theophil Studer (1845-1922). Naumann travelled via tropical West Africa and South Africa into the Indian Ocean, then to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Polynesia and New Zealand, eventually returning past Chile into the Atlantic. His health was badly affected by this journey and he left the navy to set up a medical practice at Gera in Germany and eventually died at Kloster Lausnitz. The genus Naumannia Warb. in the Zingiberaceae commemorates F.C. Naumann and many species are named after him, including phanerogams (Freycinetia naumannii Warb. and Eleocharis naumanniana Boeck.), pteridophytes (Heteroneuron naumannii Kuhn = Leptochilus naumannii (Kuhn) C. Chr.), bryophytes (Fossombronia naumannii Schiffn.) and algae (Chantransia naumannii Askenasy. = Colaconema naumannii (Askenasy) Prud'homme, Haroun & L.B.T. Kostermans).