Education
He studied chemistry and botany at Berlin and Königsberg, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy in 1867.
He studied chemistry and botany at Berlin and Königsberg, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy in 1867.
Afterwards he worked as assistant to Wilhelm Hofmeister in Heidelberg and under Johannes von Hanstein at the University of Bonn, where he obtained his habilitation in 1869. From 1872 to 1906 he was a professor and director of the botanical garden at Heidelberg. In addition to his work involving orchids, he conducted important research of diatoms, publishing the treatise "Untersuchungen über Bau und Entwicklung der Bacillariaceen (Diatomaceen)" (1871) as a result.