Friedrich Traugott Kützing

Friedrich Traugott Kützing (8 December 1807 in Ritteburg – 9 September 1893) was a German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist.

As a young man, he worked in several pharmacies in Germany, also serving as assistant for a few semesters at the chemical-pharmaceutical institute of Franz Wilhelm Schweigger-Seidel (1795–1838) at Halle. In 1835, he spent several months on a botanical excursion to Italy and Dalmatia, afterwards returning to Germany as a secondary school teacher of natural sciences in Nordhausen, a position his held until his retirement in 1883. In 1837 he was awarded with an honorary doctorate from the University of Giessen, and in 1843 received the title of professor.

Despite his limited background in regard to higher education, Kützing made significant scientific contributions. In 1833, he demonstrated differences between diatoms and desmids, thus separating the two groups into families of their own. Also, independent of Charles Cagniard-Latour (1777–1859) and Theodor Schwann (1810–1882), he was among the first to provide comprehensive answers in regard to yeast and the role it played in fermentation. In 1849, he published Species Algarum, a massive work that provided descriptions for 6000 species of algae.

He is the taxonomic authority of the genera Syringodium (family Cymodoceaceae) and Phlebothamnion (family Ceramiaceae).

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