From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Erik Acharius (10
October 1757, in Gävle – 14
August 1819) was a Swedish botanist who pioneered
the taxonomy of lichens and is
known as the "father of lichenology".
Acharius was born in Gävle,
matriculated at Uppsala
University in 1773 and was one of the last of
the students ofLinnaeus. He
later worked for the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and
completed his medical studies at Lund
University in 1782. He was appointed town
medical officer in Vadstena in
1785, district medical officer in Östergötland
County in 1789, director of the new Vadstena Hospital
(which he had initiated) in 1795, and titular professor in 1803.
Acharius belonged to the younger generations of Swedish botanists who
continued what Linnaeus had left undone. Acharius began the taxonomic
classification of the Lichenes and
published several work in this field: Lichenographiae Suecia prodromus (1798), Methodus
lichenum (1803), Lichenographia universalis (1810), Synopsis
methodica lichenum (1814) and many smaller papers in periodicals.
He was a member of the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund (1795),
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences(1796), the Linnean Society of London (1801)
and the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala (1810).
The genus Acharia,
several plants, such as Rosa acharii and Conferva acharii and
one insect, Tortrix achariana have
been named after Acharius; likewise, the Acharius
Medal is awarded for lifetime achievement in
lichenology.
The collections of Acharius are distributed over several museums: the Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki, the Botanical Museum in Uppsala,
the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the Botanical Museum in Lund. His
papers are in the Library of Uppsala University.
The standard author abbreviation Ach. is
used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[1]
References
- Nordisk familjebok, vol. 1 (1904), col 96
- Monika
Myrdal: "Erik Acharius, the father of lichenology", at [1], the
website of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. With links to sample images of his
publications.
- Rutger Sernander:
"Acharius, Erik", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, vol.
1, pp. 28-80.
Further reading
- Eriksson,
Gunnar (1970). "Acharius, Erik". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1.
New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.
Source: wikipedia
Source: www.nad.riksarkivet.se
