Johann Gregor Mendel 
(b. Heinzendorf, near Odrau, Silesia, July 22, 1822. 
d. Brunn, January 6, 1884). 
Priest and teacher of science at Brunn. Through plant-breeding 
studies on peas he discovered the most important laws of hered- 
ity, expounded in his Versuche uber Pflanzen-Hybriden (1865). 
This paper remained unnoticed until 1900, thirty-four years alter 
its publication. Mendel often said, “My time w'ill yet come”. 
His work has proved to be the greatest stimulus ever given to 
the experimental investigation of heredity. 
John Torrey 
( b . New York City, August 15, 1796. 
d. New York City, March 10. 1873). 
Professor of chemistry at West Point; later, professor of chemistry 
and botany in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New 
York, and professor of chemistry at Princeton. State Botanist 
of New York (1836). Catalogue of plants growing within thirty 
miles of New York (1819). Flora of the Northern and Middle 
States (1824). Teacher of Asa Gray. First president of the Torrey 
Botanical Club. Called by Gray the “Nestor of American 
Botany”. 
William Starling Sullivant 
( b . Franklinton, near Columbus, Ohio, January 15, 1803. 
d. Columbus, April 30, 1873). 
American bryologist. Afusci and Hcpaticae of the U?iited States 
east of the Mississippi river (1856); first published in the second 
edition of Gray’s Manual. leones Muscorum (1864) was com- 
pleted by Lesquereux. The rare Saxifrage, Sullivan tia , was 
named in his honor. 
Asa Gray 
(b. Sauquoit, Oneida County, New York, November 18, 1810. 
d. Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 30, 1888). 
Professor in Harvard University. Director of Harvard Botanic 
Garden. Foremost American systematise Strnctui a l botany (1842) . 
Manual of botany , First Edition (1847); Seventh Edition (1908). 
Defender of Darwin in America. First to call attention to and 
explain the similarity in the floras of North America and Eastern 
Asia. With Torrey, his teacher and associate, he was among 
the first to abandon the Linnaean classification. 
George Engelmann 
( b . Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, February 2, 1809. 
d. St. Louis, Missouri, February 4, 1884). 
Physician, editor, and botanist. Author of systematic works on 
Cactaceae, Cuscuta, and the oaks. First president of the St. Louis 
Academy of Science. Through Engelmann, “Shaw’s Gardens” 
became a botanical garden, from which has developed the Mis- 
souri Botanical Garden. 
Julius Ferdinand Cohn 
(b. Breslau, January 24, 1828. d. Breslau, June 25, 1898). 
One of the founders of bacteriology. Made import ant contribu- 
tions to our knowledge of fermentation and the microscopic 
organisms in drinking waters. Founder of Beihage zur Biologie 
der Pflanzen (1870). Un ter such u ngen uber Bacterien (1872-75). 
9 
