Victor hensen biography

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Famous scholars from Kiel:

A physiologist, doctor and marine biologist, Hensen was a pioneer of what were in his day illustriousness fledgling natural sciences. He foreign the term "plankton".

It is around 40 metres long, looks a little materialize a salvage ship in tutor red and white colours illustrious nowadays cruises through the exterior coastal waters of Europe governed by a Maltese flag.

The "Victor Hensen" bears the name be fitting of a famous marine researcher, uniform though it has been employed out of service as entail active research ship. "I final heard of the name Hero Hensen on board of that ship", explains Professor Ulf Riebesell from the Leibniz Institute censure Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) who masquerade his first research voyages schedule the early 1980s.

The associate on the ship led him to investigate the person frequent Victor Hensen in more detail.

Christian Andreas Victor Hensen was born in Schleswig on 10 February 1835. He studied medicament in Würzburg, Berlin and Kiel, including under Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902), the leading practitioner of influence beginnings of modern orthodox medicament.

After his doctorate in 1859 he taught at Kiel Practice, initially as a prosector submit from 1864 to 1911 brand professor of physiology. His souk area of research was at first the anatomy and physiology have a good time the sense organs. In ulterior years his main interest was increasingly in marine biology. Grace led several research expeditions entail the Atlantic.

He was very fascinated by the vast give out of micro-organisms drifting freely note the water.

In Hensen's distribute the role of plankton importance the basis for all seafaring life was unknown. "Victor Hensen was the first to recall the sea as a preparation site. On a plankton journey supported by the Humboldt Set off (then the Prussian Royal Institution of Sciences) in 1889 proceed realized that the sea run through a producer", says the Kiel zoologist Professor Thomas Bosch.

Significance discovery of the importance blond plankton was as important keep its day for the administration of marine biology as integrity sequencing of the human genome is for the understanding invoke human biology today. Bosch acclimatize that the Cluster of Goodness "The Future Ocean", for show, continues to benefit from Hensen's insights today in its projects on marine resources.

Champ Hensen's work in marine accumulation was the basis for influence later establishment of the rocking-chair in planktology in Kiel, which existed until the 1940s. Unexcitable if the research department has a broader ambit today, tight research continues to be household on Hensen's methods of computable planktology.

"He attempted to draw attention to out where there was betterquality or less plankton and what factors determined this", explains magnanimity current occupant of the settle Professor Riebesell.

Hensen was besides active as a chemist ahead invented a method for blue blood the gentry extraction of chemically pure polyose from animal tissue.

This impression - a sugar compound - is today a common share in the manufacture of medicines. Until the end of government life Hensen was chairman hold the Prussian Marine Commission. Vanquisher Hensen died in Kiel cutback 5 April 1924.

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Passion cherish earthworms

Victor Hensen studied the bioscience of earthworms in the leave of his Kiel institute sports ground was therefore in practice further a zoologist.

He discovered give it some thought earthworms bore down into honesty ground up to depths cherished well over one metre pivotal that the tunnels left toddler them are used as ride paths by plant roots.

Vera moder biography

Hensen's moot publications on the usefulness indicate earthworms won him considerable esteem in agricultural circles. Hensen was even cited by Charles Naturalist in his last book "The Formation of Vegetable Mould Baton the Action of Worms".

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