Erik Acharius (1757 - 1819)
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Biography
Sources
Home Page
Selected publications
Genera
Biography
1757 born in Gävle, Sweden
1773 studies medicine in Uppsala where he is a student of Linnaeus
1776 graduates, with dissertation "Planta aphyteia" completed under Linnaeus' direction
1778 appointed "Ausculator" at the Royal University for Science in Stockholm
1782 earns M.D. at Lund University
1785 begins medical practice in the town of Landskrona
1789 Provincial Medical Officer for the area around Vadstena in East Gotland. Plenty of time for studying lichens: have you seen Babbette's Feast? Lived here for the rest of his life, while publishing lots of stuff
"The father of Lichenology," Acharius did for Lichens what Fries did for gilled fungi and Lamarck did for invertebrates: provided a coherent and productive classification system for a large group of organisms utterly mishandled by Linnaeus. He spent the energies of his entire life studying lichens, doing the first microscopic work on them, and providing them with meaningful genera (Linnaeus just stuck them all in the genus "Lichen", which is how we get the English word). His home page has more information, and a nice picture.
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Sources
Heinrich Dörfelt & Heike Heklau (1998) Die Geschichte der Mykologie
(Die Geschichte der Mykologie)
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Home Page
Acharius home page
Selected Publications
Erik Acharius (1798) Lichenographiae svecicae Prodromus (Beginning of a Lichenography of Sweden)
Erik Acharius (1803) Methodus qua omnes detectos Lichenes (A Method by which Everyone Can Identify Lichens)
Erik Acharius (1810) Lichenographia universalis (A Universal Lichenography)
Erik Acharius (1814) Synopsis methodica Lichenum (Taxonomical Arrangement of Lichens)
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Genera
Alectoria Acharius: J. A. Luyken
Arthonia Acharius
Cetraria Acharius
Lecanora Acharius: J. A. Luyken
Parmelia Acharius
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