Background
He was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, son of Edward Bogumił Strasburger (1803–1874).
Botanist mycologist university professor
He was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, son of Edward Bogumił Strasburger (1803–1874).
Strasburger studied biological sciences in Paris, Bonn and Jena, receiving a Doctor of Philosophy in 1866 after working with Nathanael Pringsheim.
In 1868 he taught at the University of Warsaw. In 1869 he was appointed professor of botany at the University of Jena. Since 1881 he was head of the Botanisches Institut at the University of Bonn.
Strasburger died in Bonn, Germany.
He was the first to provide an accurate description of the embryonic sac in gymnosperms (such as conifers) and angiosperms (flowering plants), along with demonstrating double-fertilization in angiosperms. He came up with one of the modern laws of plant cytology: "New cell nuclei can only arise from the division of other nuclei." and originated the terms cytoplasm and nucleoplasm.
Together with Walther Flemming, and Edouard van Beneden he elucidated chromosome distribution during cell division. His work on the upward movement of tree sap proved that the process was physical and not physiological.
Strasburger was married to the pianist Alexandra Julie ("Alexandrine") Wertheim (1847–1902, daughter of the banker and councillor Julius Wertheim 1817–1901 from Warsaw, half sister of Carl Tausig).
They had three children (the third died early).
Royal Society; Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Russian Academy of Sciences.