Biography

Finnish school teacher and eminent bryologist. Viktor Brotherus was born and raised in the Åland Archipelago and, although an autonomous region of Finland, his mother tongue was Swedish. As he approached the age of ten, Brotherus and his large family moved to the city of Hämeenlinna on the Finnish mainland and here he attended the local school. After graduating at 16 he enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University (now the University of Helsinki) where he studied under S.O. Lindberg, the professor of botany and zoology and also a renowned bryologist. In 1870 he obtained his candidate in philosophy degree which would allow him to study medicine. His medical training, however, was short lived, and after he contracted blood poisoning in a surgical practical Brotherus decided that teaching would suit him better. Working in this capacity from 1871, he soon gained his first permanent position at a Swedish girl's school in Vaasa city. In 1878 he started at the Swedish girl's school in Helsinki and here he would remain, teaching natural history and mathematics, until his retirement in 1917.

At the same time Brotherus was also embarking upon an impressive career as a bryologist. Beginning with his expeditions in Finland under Lindberg, after his graduation he started to travel further afield and visited the Kola Peninsula. Using data gathered from there in 1872, 1885 and 1887 he was able to publish Musci Lapponiae Kolaënsis alongside T. Saelan in 1890. Also working in western Asia Brotherus travelled to the Caucasus in 1877 and 1881, and his treatment of the Caucasus moss flora (published 1884) would serve as his doctoral thesis. The largest expedition he undertook, however, occurred in 1896 and took him throughout central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) and almost to the Chinese border. His expertise became well known worldwide and he started to receive specimens from every corner of the globe. Between 1888 and 1894 Brotherus managed to publish bryofloras for Turkmenistan, Madagascar, Australia, Brazil, Sao Tome and Principe, North America and New Guinea.

Developing a good working relationship with Adolf Engler, he studied many sets of specimens from the German botanist, and from 1900 the pair began a collaboration on one of Brotherus's most important projects. Tasked with writing a taxonomic treatment of the mosses for Engler's Die Natürlichen Planzenfamilien he built upon Karl Müller's Synopsis (1850). Brotherus took an ambitious approach and decided to include all known mosses down to species level, including information on their distributions. In 1909 the work was completed and in 1924-1925 a second edition appeared. Brotherus was responsible for editing the second half of this revised version. At the same time, he had been commissioned by the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (the Finnish natural history society) to produce a moss flora of Fennoscandia. Published in 1923, his Die Laubmoosflora Fennoskandias became a standard text for many years to come. During the last few years of his life Brotherus also worked on a collection of mosses from China, collected by E. von Handel-Mazetti, which was published the same year he died.

Brotherus was married to Aline Mathilde Sandman and they had four children. Towards the end of his life he began to suffer from chronic bronchitis and he died of severe pneumonia. At the funeral his pupils and teacher colleagues were astonished to see such a huge congregation of international botanical experts singing his praises. It appears his fame as a bryologist was completely unknown at his school. During his life Brotherus amassed a collection of 120,000 specimens which is housed in the University of Helsinki (H). He described 70 genera and 1,800 species of mosses new to science, produced 182 publications and published two sets of exsiccate from Finland.

Sources:
R. Colander, 1965, The History of Botany in Finland
T. Koponen, 2005, "Viktor Ferdinand Brotherus (1849-1929) and Musci in Engler and Prantl's Die Natürlichen Planzenfamilien", The Bryologist, 108(3): 345-362.

Biography

Finnish school teacher and eminent bryologist. Viktor Brotherus was born and raised in the Åland Archipelago and, although an autonomous region of Finland, his mother tongue was Swedish. As he approached the age of ten, Brotherus and his large family moved to the city of Hämeenlinna on the Finnish mainland and here he attended the local school. After graduating at 16 he enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University (now the University of Helsinki) where he studied under S.O. Lindberg, the professor of botany and zoology and also a renowned bryologist. In 1870 he obtained his candidate in philosophy degree which would allow him to study medicine. His medical training, however, was short lived, and after he contracted blood poisoning in a surgical practical Brotherus decided that teaching would suit him better. Working in this capacity from 1871, he soon gained his first permanent position at a Swedish girl's school in Vaasa city. In 1878 he started at the Swedish girl's school in Helsinki and here he would remain, teaching natural history and mathematics, until his retirement in 1917.

At the same time Brotherus was also embarking upon an impressive career as a bryologist. Beginning with his expeditions in Finland under Lindberg, after his graduation he started to travel further afield and visited the Kola Peninsula. Using data gathered from there in 1872, 1885 and 1887 he was able to publish Musci Lapponiae Kolaënsis alongside T. Saelan in 1890. Also working in western Asia Brotherus travelled to the Caucasus in 1877 and 1881, and his treatment of the Caucasus moss flora (published 1884) would serve as his doctoral thesis. The largest expedition he undertook, however, occurred in 1896 and took him throughout central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) and almost to the Chinese border. His expertise became well known worldwide and he started to receive specimens from every corner of the globe. Between 1888 and 1894 Brotherus managed to publish bryofloras for Turkmenistan, Madagascar, Australia, Brazil, Sao Tome and Principe, North America and New Guinea.

Developing a good working relationship with Adolf Engler, he studied many sets of specimens from the German botanist, and from 1900 the pair began a collaboration on one of Brotherus's most important projects. Tasked with writing a taxonomic treatment of the mosses for Engler's Die Natürlichen Planzenfamilien he built upon Karl Müller's Synopsis (1850). Brotherus took an ambitious approach and decided to include all known mosses down to species level, including information on their distributions. In 1909 the work was completed and in 1924-1925 a second edition appeared. Brotherus was responsible for editing the second half of this revised version. At the same time, he had been commissioned by the Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (the Finnish natural history society) to produce a moss flora of Fennoscandia. Published in 1923, his Die Laubmoosflora Fennoskandias became a standard text for many years to come. During the last few years of his life Brotherus also worked on a collection of mosses from China, collected by E. von Handel-Mazetti, which was published the same year he died.

Brotherus was married to Aline Mathilde Sandman and they had four children. Towards the end of his life he began to suffer from chronic bronchitis and he died of severe pneumonia. At the funeral his pupils and teacher colleagues were astonished to see such a huge congregation of international botanical experts singing his praises. It appears his fame as a bryologist was completely unknown at his school. During his life Brotherus amassed a collection of 120,000 specimens which is housed in the University of Helsinki (H). He described 70 genera and 1,800 species of mosses new to science, produced 182 publications and published two sets of exsiccate from Finland.

Sources:
R. Colander, 1965, The History of Botany in Finland
T. Koponen, 2005, "Viktor Ferdinand Brotherus (1849-1929) and Musci in Engler and Prantl's Die Natürlichen Planzenfamilien", The Bryologist, 108(3): 345-362.