Nathanael Pringsheim

Biography

Nathanael Pringsheim (30 November 1823 – 6 October 1894) was a German botanist. He specialized in the algae, studying their sexual reproduction, and worked as a professor of botany at the University of Jena from 1864 but resigned in 1868 to conduct research at home. He discovered sexual reproduction in the algae and examined the alternation of generations in lower plants. He proposed the idea that chlorophyll evolved as a pigment to protect the plant cell from damage. He founded the journal Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Botanik, and helped found the German Botanical Society and the marine biological research station at Heligoland.