Theodor Kotschy - Biography

Biography

From 1836 to 1862 he performed extensive botanical research throughout the Middle East and northern Africa, in which he collected over 300,000 botanical specimens. Beginning in 1836, he accompanied geologist Joseph Russegger (1802-1863) on a scientific trip to Cilicia and Syria, afterwards journeying through Nubia and Sennar. Following the dissolution with Russegger's expedition, he remained in Egypt. He later traveled to Kurdufan (1839), Cyprus, Syria, Mesopotamia and Kurdistan (1840-41); and during 1842-43 he undertook an expedition to Persia. Later he performed botanical investigations in Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon (1855); and also in Cyprus, Asia Minor and Kurdistan (1859). In 1862 he performed additional botanical research in Cyprus and Syria.

The plant genus Kotschya from the family Fabaceae is named in his honor. His name is also associated with a species of lizard, "Kotschy’s gecko" (Cyrtopodion kotschyi).

The standard author abbreviation Kotschy is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.

Read more about this topic:  Theodor Kotschy

Famous quotes containing the word biography:

    “Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
    —Rebecca West (1892–1983)

    “The best part of a writer’s biography is not the record of his adventures but the story of his style.”
    —Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)

    “The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)