Ruprecht, Franz Ivanovich

Early years

The eldest son of the quartermaster of the Austrian army, Ruprecht was born in Freiburg (district Breisgau), November 4 (16) (according to other sources, November 1 ^[2] ) 1814. The first years of his childhood passed in the midst of nomadic, camp life, for he was with his father, who, according to his duties, accompanied the army, which was then fighting against Napoleon . During the campaign, his mother died - and his father, at the conclusion of peace, decided to settle permanently in Prague , where he married for the second time. In 1830, after graduating from the gymnasium in Prague, Ruprecht entered the medical faculty of Prague Charles University , which he graduated in 1836.

But medicine was not a special subject of Ruprecht's studies: already on his student bench he devoted himself to botany , made excursions to the Tyrolean Alps and Bohemia , carefully collecting rare plants for the collection of Reichenbach ’s father Flora Germanica exsiccata and composing a herbarium of samples of the Bohemian flora (assigned them later to Kazan University ). These classes were successful - already in 1837 Ruprecht wrote an essay on the topography and flora of Bohemia.

Having been engaged in botany for several years, Ruprecht had the opportunity to meet with Prague experts, for example, V. Kosteletsky , Count K. Sternberg and others, and enter into correspondence with such scientists as F. Bauer , A. Chamisso , K. Kunt , I Link , H. Nes von Esenbeck ; these relations he had formed since the time he had undertaken a trip to Germany with the special purpose of examining and, if possible, exploring the most important botanical collections. The result of these studies was the serious work of Ruprecht - Experience in General Agrography ( lat. Tentamen agrostographiae universalis ), published in 1838. In the same year, he defended his thesis for a doctorate ^[1] , and the topic for this was the analysis of two subfamilies of cereal plants ( Prosovy and Rottbelievye ). August 1, 1838 Ruprecht received the desired degree. Before defending his dissertation, he met the famous Russian cereal specialist, academician K. Trinius , who arrived in Prague for a meeting of German naturalists and doctors.

In Russia

Trinius appreciated the ability of a young scientist and offered him the place of custodian of the herbarium ( Botanical Museum ) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences . As a result, Ruprecht, who had just begun medical practice in Prague, left his homeland and left for St. Petersburg , where he arrived in the spring of 1839, and was approved in his new post by the Academy Conference in the fall. In St. Petersburg, a field of independent and useful activity was opened for Ruprecht. Founded in 1823 and built by Trinius at the Academy of Sciences, the Botanical Museum was enriched in a relatively short time not only with rare specimens of the Russian flora, but also with extensive collections of plant specimens from all over the world; all this material was not processed and not put in order. To systematize it, there were only two specialists at the Academy - Trinius himself and G.P. Bongard ; the first devoted himself almost exclusively to agrography, the scientific activity of the second was interrupted by premature death. Thus, Ruprecht became, in essence, the only manager of the museum, and he needed a lot of energy and love for the work, in order to fulfill the difficult and polysyllabic duties of the curator of such an extensive botanical collection, to find more time for scientific works.

On the day of his approval, the guardian of the Botanical Museum, Ruprecht presented the Academy of Sciences with a detailed monograph on bamboo plants , a work on which he worked long and hard in Prague. In 1840, another, larger work by Ruprecht on the algae of the Pacific Ocean ( Latin Illustrationes algarum in itinere circa orbem jussn Imperatoris Nicolai I atque auspiciis navarchi Friderici Lütke annis 1826-1829 celoce Seniavin execorimal oceano ad littora Rossica Asiatico-Americano collectarum , German Die Tange des nördlichen Stillen Océans ) - the work is all the more valuable because after S. G. Gmelin 's Historia fucorum he was the first attempt to work independently in this area. The materials for this study of Ruprecht (together with A. F. Postels ^[1] ) were plants collected in 1826-1829 by the round-the-world expedition of F. P. Litke , subsequently count , admiral and President of the Academy of Sciences. The Academy awarded this work in 1841 with the full Demidov Prize . Ruprecht used this money on a scientific trip to the north of the European part of Russia - to the Arkhangelsk province , Malozemelskaya tundra (at that time was called "Samoyed") and to Kolguyev island, where he was sent by the Minister of Education and where he stayed from May to September 1841. . The result of this journey was the rich botanical collections he brought and an essay dedicated to their processing - Flores Samojedorum Cisura lensium (1845). This and another, later work by Ruprecht - Flora of the Northern Urals (1854), written on the basis of materials collected by the Ural expedition of the Russian Geographical Society, give a complete picture of plant life and for a long time were the only reports on the flora of the Russian North ^[1] .

In 1847, Ruprecht married a Russian German - Caroline Meinshausen from Riga and moved from Austrian citizenship to Russian; a year later, on February 5, 1848, he was appointed adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences , on November 5, 1853 he was elected and the Highest approved by the extraordinary, and on January 11, 1857 - an ordinary academician . Even earlier, in 1850, he took the place of assistant director of the Imperial Botanical Garden , which he kept until 1855. After the death of the director of the Botanical Museum, K. A. Meyer, Ruprecht took his place in 1855 ^[1] ); Described by herbarium specimens many plants of the Russian Far East , as well as Alaska, new for that time.

In parallel with this, in 1854-1859 he was a professor of botany at the St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute ^[1] , and, finding the textbooks unsatisfactory, he wrote a manual for his lectures in Russian — a work that cost him many labors.

In 1853, Ruprecht, studying the flora of the Petersburg province , undertook a series of trips along it and was even sent for this purpose by the Academy in 1853 to the St. Petersburg district .

After the Russian troops conquered the eastern part of the Caucasus - Dagestan in 1859 - the Academy of Sciences decided to send Ruprecht to the Caucasus with the special purpose of studying the Dagestan flora. Ruprecht spent two summers in Dagestan, studying samples of local vegetation, and then went to Georgia , where he began to study the local flora, focusing on the species of exotic plants. The results of this trip were very valuable: in addition to the rich and diverse botanical collections he collected, he brought a description of some places in Dagestan, which had not yet been explored and almost unknown at that time. Ruprecht presented a brief description of the results of his study of the local flora back in Tiflis , after reading a report at the local Society of Agriculture. A short report on his business trip Ruprecht presented to the Academy immediately upon arrival in St. Petersburg; in the spring of the same year he made additions to it and published it in this form. In parallel, Ruprecht worked on putting in order and systematizing the materials he collected, which took more than a year. The most important and serious fruits of his field work were two works: Barometrischen Höhenstimmungen (1863) and Flora Caucasi (1867); the latter was published in 1869. Addition .

While working on his collections, Ruprecht at the same time devoted a significant part of his energy to research in botany, but in a slightly different area of ​​it. So, in 1869, he took upon himself the systematization of samples of Asian flora collected by the Secretary of the Russian Geographical Society, Baron F.R. Osten-Saken, during his trip to the Tien Shan . In 1863, Ruprecht traveled to Kharkov and Kazan to inspect the botanical collections of local universities. In 1866, Ruprecht (simultaneously with the German botanist A. Grisebach ) first applied the term " geobotany ". In a word, Ruprecht, thanks to hard work and rare devotion to science, managed to combine his direct duties with the serious work of a scientist ^[2] .

Ruprecht was engaged in the study of black soil and published the results of his work. In 1866, in the work of Ruprecht ^[3] , the impossibility of the formation of chernozem as a water residue was proved, the original popular hypothesis of its origin was restored, stated in the middle of the XVIII century by Lomonosov and later by scientists - academicians of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences <...>; this was the general opinion of local farmers, who always assumed that chernozem was a product of rotting ground vegetation. However, Ruprecht still could not explain the sharp northern and southern borders of chernozem, its absence outside a narrow and definite region. He had to admit for this the existence of special geological conditions: chernozem, in his opinion, represents the surface formation of the ancient land, on which the waves of the North Sea broke, which carried ice mountains - padons in the deluvial time. Its sharp northern border is the border of this ancient continent and is created by the usual activities of geological agents. Chernozem could not form in the south of Russia, where there is no sharp boundary for it and where it gradually passes into other soils covering the latest geological deposits. Soils of the south of Russia, according to Ruprecht, have not yet managed to accumulate humus and form chernozem due to their youth; for the accumulation of humus requires centuries of constant climatic conditions favorable to the development of vegetation ^[4] .

Accurate and accurate, gifted with a strong analytical mind and possessing outstanding erudition, Ruprecht left a noticeable mark in his favorite specialty ^[2] .

For his scientific merits, Ruprecht was elected a member of various scientific societies: since 1841, he was a corresponding member of the Royal Bavarian Society in Regensburg ; since 1849 - the Lotus Society of Naturalists in Prague; since 1856 - the Scientific Society in Uppsala ; since 1857 - the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and the Committee for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants at the Imperial Moscow Society of Agriculture ; since 1859 - the Free Economic Society and the Russian Society of Horticulture in St. Petersburg; since 1861 - an honorary member of the Council of the Mountain-Goretsky Agricultural Institute ; since 1863 - the Estland Horticultural Society in Revel ; since 1868 - a member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists ; since 1869 - an honorary member of the Society of Naturalists in St. Petersburg ; since 1870 - the Society of Naturalists at Kharkov University .

Ruprecht died on July 23, 1870 in St. Petersburg, with the rank of State Councilor ; he was buried at the Wolf Lutheran cemetery .

Professor of St. Petersburg University and full member of the Academy of Sciences A. V. Nikitenko (1804-1877) left the following entry in his diary :

August 25, 1870, Saturday
At the funeral of Academician Ruprecht, who died on the third day. He left behind the memory of an honest scientist and deep poverty with a large family. ^[5]

The plant genus Ruprechtia ( Ruprechtia camey. ) Is named after him.

• Über Stellaria latifolia De C. Prodr. // Flora. - 1834. - year XVII, part II. - S. 707-710 .
• Tentamen Agrostographiae universalis, exhibens characteres ordinum generumque dispositionem naturalem cum distributione geographica, adjectis tabulis analyticis. - Pragae, 1838.
• Tentamen agrostographiae universalis etc. Ordo I. II. - Pragae, 1838.
• Bambuseae. - 1839.
• Bambuseas monographice disposuit Dr FI Ruprecht // Mém. de L'Acad. Imp. des Sc. de St.-Pétersbourg, VI série, Sc. math. phys. et natur .. - 1840. - T. V. - S. 91-164 . - as a separate publication, St. Petersburg, 1839
• Illustrationes Algarum in itinere circa orbem etc. Auctoribus prof. A. Postels et Doct. F. Ruprecht. - Petropoli, 1840.
• Lichenes in Bongard und Meyer: Verzeichniss der ... Pflanzen ... etc., St. Petersburg // Mém. de l'Acad. de Sc., Sc. natur. - 1841. - T. IV, I. - S. 78 .
• Über einige neue brasilianische Bambusrohre // Bulletin scientif. de l'Académie Imp. des Sc. de St.-Pétersb. - 1841. - Issue. Viii . - S. 332—336 .
• Bericht über die Bereicherungen der botanischen Sammlungen etc // Bull. scientif. - 1841. - Issue. Viii . - S. 350—352 .
• Gramina Agrostidea etc., exposuerunt CB Trinius et FJ Ruprecht // Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. des Sc., VI série. - 1842. - T. VII, 2 . - S. 1-189 . - separate publication under the title Species graminum stipaceorum, Petrop., 1842
• Gramineae // Bulletin de l'Acad. royale des ss. et. belles lettres de Bruxelles. - 1842. - Issue. IX, 2 . - S. 227-248 .
• Neue Beobachtungen über Oscillaria // Bull. de la Classe physico-mathématique de l'Acad. Imp. des sc. de St-Pétersb. - 1845. - Issue. III .
• Flores Samojedorum cisuralensium offert FI Ruprecht // Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde des Russischen Reìchs. - 1845. - Issue. II .
• Distributio Cryptogramarum Vascularium in Imperio Rossico // Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde des Russischen Reìchs. - 1845. - Issue. III .
• In historiam stirpium Florae Petropolitanae diatribae // Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde des Russischen Reìchs. - 1845. - Issue. IV .
• Symbolae ad historiam et geographiam plantarum rossicarum. - Petropoli, 1846.
• Über den Standpunkt der Cryptogamie in Russland // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1848. - Issue. VI . - S. 305-311 .
• Carl Bernhard Trinius etc. - Berlin, 1848.
• Bemerkungen über den Bau und das Wachsthum einiger grösseren Algenstämme und über die Mittel das Alter derselben zu bestimmen // Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. des sc., VI sér. - 1849. - Issue. VIII, 2 . - S. 59-70 . - separate edition - 1848
• Die Vegetation des Rothen Meeres etc // Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. d. sc., VI sér. - 1849. - Issue. VIII, 2 . - S. 71-84 . - separate publication - 1849
• Chupp-Tatt etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1850. - Issue. Viii . - S. 121-126 . - separate publication - 1849
• Vorläufige Anzeige über die Entdeckung von Gefässen etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1850. - Issue. Viii . - S. 233-234 . - separate edition - 1850
• Algae Ochotenses. - 1850.
• Über die Verbreitung der Pflanzen in nördlischen Ural // Bull. cl. phys.-math. - 1850. - Issue. Viii . - S. 273-297 .
• Hatte die diesjährige Sonnenfinsterniss in St. Petersburg einen Einfluss etc // Bull. cl. phys.-math. - 1851. - Issue. IX .
• Neue Pflanzen (Fuci) aus dem nördlichen Stillen Ocean. - 1852.
• Flora of the Northern Urals. On the distribution of plants in the Northern Urals = Flora Borealo-Uralensis. Über die Verbreitung der Pflanzen im nördlichen Ural. - SPb. , 1854.
• Bericht über eine Reise in Gouvernement St.-Pétersburg // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1854. - Issue. XII .
• Über das System der Rhodophyceae etc // Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. d. sc., VI sér. - 1855. - Issue. IX, 2 . - S. 25-54 .
• Neue oder unvollständig bekannte Pflanzen etc // Mém. de l'Acad. Imp. des sc., VI sér. - 1855. - Issue. X, 2 .
• Analyse des Werkes der HH Wiedemann und Weber etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1855. - Issue. Xiii . - S. 113-128 .
• Analysis of the work of Dr. Merklin // XXIV awarding of the Demidov Prizes. - SPb. , 1855.
• Dr Carl Anton Meyer // Bot. Zeitung. - 1855. - S. 374-375 .
• Tange des Ochotskischen Meeres etc // Reise in den äussersten Norden u. Osten Sibiriens etc., I. - St. Petersburg. , 1856.
• Flora boreali-uralensis etc // Der nordliche Ural und das Küstengebirge Pae-choì etc., part II. - 1856.
• Einige Worte über die Gattung Calyptrostigma // Bull. cl. phys.-math. - 1856. - Issue. Xiv . - S. 93-94 .
• Rapport de M. Ruprecht sur un travail de Mr. E. Borszcsow etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1856. - Issue. Xiv .
• Animadversiones in plantas etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1856. - Issue. Xiv . - S. 229—238 .
• Analysis of the works of Turchaninov // XXVI award of the Demidov Prizes. - 1857. - S. 37-48 .
• Analysis of the works of Mr. Tsenkovsky // XXVI awarding of the Demidov Prizes. - 1857. - S. 153-159 .
• Die ersten botanischen Nachrichten über das Amurland etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1857. - Issue. Xv . - S. 120–144, 257–267, 352–383 .
• Ein Beitrag zur Frage über die Parthenogenesis bei Pflanzen etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1858. - Issue. Xvi . - S. 273—279 .
• Bemerkungen über einige Arten der Gattung Botrychium // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1858. - Issue. Xvii . - No. 3 . - S. 47-48 .
• Revision der Umbelliferen Kamtschatka // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1858. - Issue. Xvii . - No. 7 . - S. 106-108 .
• Die Edeltaunen von Pavlovsk // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1858. - Issue. Xvii . - No. 17 . - S. 261-270 .
• Rapport sur un mémoire de Mr. Regel etc // Bull. de la cl. phys.-math. - 1859. - Issue. Xvii . - S. 411-415 .
• Decas plantarum amurensium etc. - Petropoli, 1859.
• Travel to Cupid. - 1859.
• Analysis of the work of Mr. Maksimovich // XXVIIІ award of the Demidov Prizes. - SPb. , 1859.
• Revision cer Umbelliferen aus Kamtschatka etc // Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde des Russ. Reichs - 1859.
• Parthenogenesis bei Pflanzen // Bonplandia: Journal. - 1859. - Issue. VII . - S. 4-6 .
• Flora ingrica. - Petropoli, 1860.
• Über einen verkieselten Baumfarn etc // Bull. de l'Acad. Imp. - 1860. - Issue. I. - S. 147-153 .
• Analysis of the writings of Mr. Annenkov, Botanical Dictionary // Twenty-ninth Prize established by P. N. Demidov, June 16, 1860. - SPb. : Petersburg Acad. Sciences, 1860.
• Analysis of Op. Rachinsky // The twenty-ninth award established by P. N. Demidov awards, June 16, 1860. - SPb. : Petersburg Acad. Sciences, 1860. - S. 193-200 .
• Vorläufige Nachrichten über meine Reise etc // Bull. de l'Acad. Imp. - 1862. - Issue. V. - S. 25–33 .
• Barometrische Höhenbestimmungen // Mém. de l'Acad. Mp. - 1863. - Issue. VII . - No. 1 .
• Bemerkungen über die Caukasischen Primeln // Bull. de l'Acad. Imp. - 1863. - Issue. VI . - S. 217—238 .
• Ein Beitrag zur Frage // Bull. de l'Acad. Imp. - 1864. - Issue. VII . - S. 148-158 .
• Das botanische Museum // Zur Geschichte der Museen der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, app. to Bull. Acad. - 1864. - Issue. VII .
• Essay on the history of the Botanical Museum // Zap. Acad. sciences. - 1864. - T. 2 , no. V.
• Über den Ursprung des Tschornosjom // Bull. Ace. - 1864. - Issue. VII . - S. 417-425 .
• Über die ... Bedeutung des Tschornosjom // Bull. Ace. - 1864. - Issue. VII . - S. 425-438 .
• On the origin of black soil // Teacher: Journal. - 1864. - No. 9, 10, 11, 12 .
• Materials for the history of the imperial Academy of Sciences in botany // Zap. Acad. sciences. - SPb. , 1865. - Issue. VII .
• Analysis of Op. Borshchova // XXXIII awarding of the Demidov Prizes. - SPb. , 1865. - S. 146-158 .
• Geobotanical studies on chernozem, with a map of the distribution of chernozem in European Russia / App. to the 10th volume of Zap. Acad. Sciences, No. 6. - St. Petersburg. : Type of. Acad. Sciences, 1866.
• Über eine mikroskopische Süsswasser-Alge // Bull. Acad. - 1866. - Issue. IX . - S. 35-43 .
• Neuere geobotanische Untersuchungen // Bull. Acad. - 1866. - Issue. IX . - S. 482-569 .
• Analysis of the first issue of Zabel’s works // XXXVI awarding of the Demidov Prizes. - SPb. , 1866.
• Revisio Campanularum Caucasi // Bull. Acad. - 1867. - Issue. Xi . - S. 203—222 .
• New Studies on Black Earth // Naturalist: Journal. - 1867. - No. 13-20 .
• Sternbergia Fischeriana // Gartenflora: Journal. - 1868. - S. 100-102 .
• Caucasische Zwiebelgewächse // Gartenflora: Journal. - 1868. - S. 130-132 .
• Flora Caucasi, Part 1 // Mém. Acad., VII sér. - 1869. - Issue. Xv . - No. 2 .
• Freicher von der Osten-Sacken u. FI Ruprecht. Sertum tianschanicum etc. - SPb. , 1869.
• On botanical names in the Explanatory Dictionary of Dahl // Zap. Imp. Acad. sciences. - Vol. Xvii, 2 . - S. 87-88 .

• Maksimovich, K.I. Essay on the life and works of Franz Ivanovich Ruprecht // Zap. AN - SPb. , 1871. - T. 20 , no. 1 . - S. 1-49 .
• Lipsky, V.I. Ruprecht, Franz Ivanovich // Imperial St. Petersburg Botanical Garden for 200 years of its existence (1713-1913), part 3. - Anniversary ed. - P. , 1915 .-- S. 424-432.
• Fedotova, A. A. “Geo-botanical research on chernozem” by F. I. Ruprecht // VIET. - 2008. - Issue. 1 . - S. 22—34 .
• Fedotova, AA The Origins of the Russian Chernozem Soil (Black Earth): Franz Joseph Ruprecht's 'Geo-Botanical Researches into the Chernozem' of 1866 // Environment and History. - 2010 .-- Vol. 16, No. 3 . - P. 271-293.

• Kafanov A. I., Kudryashov V. A., 2005. Classics of biogeography: a biobibliographic index. (Retrieved December 26, 2009)
• Ruprecht, Franz Ivanovich in the Big Biographical Encyclopedia (Retrieved December 26, 2009)