Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli
| Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 26 or 27 March 1817 Kilchberg |
| Died |
10 May 1891 (aged 74) Munich |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Fields | Botanist |
| Known for | Chromosomes |
Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (26 or 27 March 1817 – 10 May 1891) was a Swiss botanist. He studied cell division and pollination but became known as the man who discouraged Gregor Mendel from further work on genetics. He rejected natural selection as a mechanism of evolution, favouring orthogenesis driven by a supposed "inner perfecting principle".
Nägeli was born in Kilchberg near Zurich, where he studied medicine at the University of Zurich. From 1839, he studied botany under A. P. de Candolle at Geneva, and graduated with a botanical thesis at Zurich in 1840. His attention having been directed by Matthias Jakob Schleiden, then professor of botany at Jena, to the microscopical study of plants, he engaged more particularly in that branch of research.
Soon after graduation he became Privatdozent and subsequently professor extraordinary, in the University of Zurich; later he was called to fill the chair of botany at the University of Freiburg; and in 1857 he was promoted to Munich, where he remained as professor until his death.
It was thought that Nägeli had first observed cell division during the formation of pollen, in 1843. However, this is disputed by Henry Harris, who writes: "What Nägeli saw and did not see in plant material at about the same time [as Robert Remak] is somewhat obscure... I conclude... that, unlike Remak, he did not observe nuclear division... it is clear that Nägeli did not in 1844 have any idea of the importance of the nucleus in the life of the cell."
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