Johannes Reinke (February 3, 1849 – February 25, 1931) was a German
botanist and
philosopher, born in
Ziethen,
Lauenburg. He is remembered for his research of
benthic marine algae.
Academic background
Reinke studied botany with his father from the age of eight.[1] Reinke studied
theology at
Rostock, but his focus later changed to
botany. In 1879 he became a professor of botany at the
University of Göttingen, where he established the institute of
plant physiology. From 1885 until 1921, he was a professor at the
University of Kiel. Reinke was a co-founder of the Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft.
Contributions
Reinke had a keen interest in the systematics, developmental cycles,
cytology and
physiology of
brown algae. From 1888 to 1892, he published a number of articles on marine algae from the
North and
Baltic Seas — in regards to the Baltic, he described several new genera of algae. He also published works on the algal families
Tilopteridaceae (1889) and Sphacelariaceae (1890). Furthermore, he postulated that the encrusting algae genus called Aglaozonia was a stage in the life history of Cutleria. He has been credited for being the first to use the word
soralia to refer to the
propagule-producing area in lichens in an 1895 publication, introducing a term still in common use.[2]Reinkella, a genus of
lichenized fungi in the family
Roccellaceae, was named in his honour in 1897.[3][4]
Reinke was a proponent of scientific "neo-
vitalism", and a critic of the
Darwinian theory of evolution.[5] Opposing the secularization of science, Reinke, along with his Lutheran friend
Eberhard Dennert, founded the Keplerbund ("Kepler Association") in 1907. They opposed
Haeckel's Monist League, which aimed to "replace" German churches with the evolutionary theory as a
secular religion,[6] and attempted to create a branch of popular science grounded in the Christian belief.[7]
In 1901 he introduced the term "
theoretical biology" to define
biology from a standpoint of concepts and theories, and to differentiate it from traditional "empirical biology". Reinke attempted to explain the process of biological change through a concept of
morphogenesis and genetic regulation he referred to as the "Dominanten" theory. Among his written works was a book that discussed the relationship of
philosophy and
religion to science.
Entwicklungsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen über die Dictyotaceen des Golfs von Neapel. Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicae naturae curiosorum, Bd. 40, 1 (1878) * Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Botanik, (Historical research into the development of
Dictyotaceae from the
Gulf of Naples), 1880
Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Botanik (Textbook of general botany), 1880
Atlas deutscher Meeresalgen (Atlas of German marine algae), 1889 and 1891
Einleitung in der theoretische Biologie (Introduction to theoretical biology), 1901, second edition 1910.
Philosophie der Botanik (Philosophy of botany), 1905
Haeckels Monismus und seine Freunde – ein freies Wort für freie Wissenschaft (
Haeckel'smonism and allies, a free word for free science), 1907
Die Kunst der Weltanschauung (The Art of Belief), 1911
Kritik der Abstammungslehre (Critique of the theory of evolution), 1920
^Andreas W. Daum, Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998,
ISBN3-486-56337-8, pp. 220–25, 507, including a short biography.
Wissemann, V (2006). "Johannes Reinke (1839-1931) and his "Dominanten" theory--an early concept of gene regulation and morphogenesis". Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften. 124 (3–4): 397–400.
doi:
10.1016/j.thbio.2005.11.007.
PMID17046367.
S2CID21331493.
List of publications copied from an article on Johannes Reinke at the
German Wikipedia.