1.
Haarlem
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Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the edge of the Randstad. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014 and it is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the countrys capital for work. Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270, the modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. The city is located on the river Spaarne, about 20 km west of Amsterdam and it has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears the nickname Bloemenstad, for this reason. Haarlem has a history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal. The people on this strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships, however, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a bedroom community. Nowadays many of them are on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments, the list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre. The oldest mentioning of Haarlem dates from the 10th century, the name probably comes from Haarlo-heim. This name is composed of three elements, haar, lo and heim, there is not much dispute about the meaning of lo and heim, in Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to forest and heim to home or house. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune, the name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean home on a forested dune. There was a stream called De Beek, dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal, over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in, the location of the village was a good one, by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland
2.
Lunteren
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Lunteren is a town in Gelderland, the Netherlands. It has a station on the line between Amersfoort and Ede. The town is planning to include the first SAP certified finance expert soon and it is known also because of three Conference Centres in the vicinity, like Het Bosgoed, which hosts especially academic conferences and De Werelt Congress Hotel. In 1938, the NSB built what is known as the Muur van Mussert there, Lunteren was a separate municipality until 1818, when it was merged with Ede. J. Kuyper, Gemeente Atlas van Nederland, 1865-1870, Lunteren, map of the former municipality, around 1868
3.
Royal Society
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Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Societys President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the members of the society. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS, there are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS. The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015, since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London. The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations and they were influenced by the new science, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library, after the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society, I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But tis well known who were the men that began and promoted that design. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of the society, the societys early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673, there had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent college for the society. Michael Hunter argues that this was influenced by Solomons House in Bacons New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by J. V. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September 1659, he suggested a scheme, with apartments for members. The societys ideas were simpler and only included residences for a handful of staff and these plans were progressing by November 1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the unrealised—perhaps unrealistic—aspirations of the society. During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded, with a number of scientific greats compared to other periods. The pointed lightning conductor had been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, during the same time period, it became customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was concerned, something that still continues. The 18th century featured remedies to many of the early problems
4.
Botany
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Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
5.
Gene
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A gene is a locus of DNA which is made up of nucleotides and is the molecular unit of heredity. The transmission of genes to an offspring is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits. These genes make up different DNA sequences called genotypes, genotypes along with environmental and developmental factors determine what the phenotypes will be. Most biological traits are under the influence of polygenes as well as gene–environment interactions, genes can acquire mutations in their sequence, leading to different variants, known as alleles, in the population. These alleles encode slightly different versions of a protein, which cause different phenotypical traits, usage of the term having a gene typically refers to containing a different allele of the same, shared gene. Genes evolve due to natural selection or survival of the fittest of the alleles, the concept of a gene continues to be refined as new phenomena are discovered. For example, regulatory regions of a gene can be far removed from its coding regions, some viruses store their genome in RNA instead of DNA and some gene products are functional non-coding RNAs. The existence of discrete inheritable units was first suggested by Gregor Mendel, from 1857 to 1864, in Brno, he studied inheritance patterns in 8000 common edible pea plants, tracking distinct traits from parent to offspring. He described these mathematically as 2n combinations where n is the number of differing characteristics in the original peas, although he did not use the term gene, he explained his results in terms of discrete inherited units that give rise to observable physical characteristics. This description prefigured the distinction between genotype and phenotype, charles Darwin developed a theory of inheritance he termed pangenesis, from Greek pan and genesis / genos. Darwin used the term gemmule to describe hypothetical particles that would mix during reproduction, de Vries called these units pangenes, after Darwins 1868 pangenesis theory. In 1909 the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen shortened the name to gene, advances in understanding genes and inheritance continued throughout the 20th century. Deoxyribonucleic acid was shown to be the repository of genetic information by experiments in the 1940s to 1950s. In the early 1950s the prevailing view was that the genes in a chromosome acted like discrete entities, indivisible by recombination, collectively, this body of research established the central dogma of molecular biology, which states that proteins are translated from RNA, which is transcribed from DNA. This dogma has since shown to have exceptions, such as reverse transcription in retroviruses. The modern study of genetics at the level of DNA is known as molecular genetics, in 1972, Walter Fiers and his team at the University of Ghent were the first to determine the sequence of a gene, the gene for Bacteriophage MS2 coat protein. The subsequent development of chain-termination DNA sequencing in 1977 by Frederick Sanger improved the efficiency of sequencing, an automated version of the Sanger method was used in early phases of the Human Genome Project. The theories developed in the 1930s and 1940s to integrate molecular genetics with Darwinian evolution are called the evolutionary synthesis
6.
Gregor Mendel
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Gregor Johann Mendel was a scientist, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas Abbey in Brno, Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in Silesian part of Austrian Empire, Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants, plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. With seed color, he showed that when a yellow pea, however, in the next generation of plants, the green peas reappeared at a ratio of 1,3. To explain this phenomenon, Mendel coined the terms “recessive” and “dominant” in reference to certain traits and he published his work in 1866, demonstrating the actions of invisible “factors”—now called genes—in providing for visible traits in predictable ways. The profound significance of Mendels work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century with the independent rediscovery of these laws. Erich von Tschermak, Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and William Jasper Spillman independently verified several of Mendels experimental findings, Mendel was born into a German-speaking family in Hynčice, at the Moravian-Silesian border, Austrian Empire. He was the son of Anton and Rosine Mendel, and had one sister, Veronika. They lived and worked on a farm which had been owned by the Mendel family for at least 130 years, during his childhood, Mendel worked as a gardener and studied beekeeping. Later, as a man, he attended gymnasium in Opava. He had to take four months off during his studies due to illness. From 1840 to 1843, he studied practical and theoretical philosophy and physics at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Olomouc and he also struggled financially to pay for his studies, and Theresia gave him her dowry. Later he helped support her three sons, two of whom became doctors and he became a friar because it enabled him to obtain an education without having to pay for it himself. He was given the name Gregor when he joined the Augustinian friars, upon recommendation of his physics teacher Friedrich Franz, Mendel entered the Augustinian St Thomass Abbey in Brno and began his training as a priest. Born Johann Mendel, he took the name Gregor upon entering religious life, Mendel worked as a substitute high school teacher. In 1850, he failed the oral part, the last of three parts, of his exams to become a high school teacher. In 1851, he was sent to the University of Vienna to study under the sponsorship of Abbot C. F. Napp so that he could get more formal education, at Vienna, his professor of physics was Christian Doppler. Mendel returned to his abbey in 1853 as a teacher, principally of physics, in 1856, he took the exam to become a certified teacher and again failed the oral part. In 1867, he replaced Napp as abbot of the monastery, Mendel died on 6 January 1884, at the age of 61, in Brno, Moravia, Austria-Hungary, from chronic nephritis
7.
Mutation
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In biology, a mutation is the permanent alteration of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA or other genetic elements. Mutations may also result from insertion or deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements, mutations may or may not produce discernible changes in the observable characteristics of an organism. Mutations play a part in normal and abnormal biological processes including, evolution, cancer, and the development of the immune system. The genomes of RNA viruses are based on RNA rather than DNA, the RNA viral genome can be double stranded or single stranded. In some of these viruses replication occurs quickly and there are no mechanisms to check the genome for accuracy and this error-prone process often results in mutations. Mutation can result in different types of change in sequences. Mutations in genes can either have no effect, alter the product of a gene, mutations can also occur in nongenic regions. Mutations can involve the duplication of large sections of DNA, usually through genetic recombination and these duplications are a major source of raw material for evolving new genes, with tens to hundreds of genes duplicated in animal genomes every million years. Most genes belong to larger families of shared ancestry, known as homology. Here, protein domains act as modules, each with a particular and independent function, that can be mixed together to produce genes encoding new proteins with novel properties. For example, the eye uses four genes to make structures that sense light. Another advantage of duplicating a gene is that this increases engineering redundancy, other types of mutation occasionally create new genes from previously noncoding DNA. Changes in chromosome number may involve even larger mutations, where segments of the DNA within chromosomes break and then rearrange. For example, in the Homininae, two fused to produce human chromosome 2, this fusion did not occur in the lineage of the other apes. Sequences of DNA that can move about the genome, such as transposons, make up a fraction of the genetic material of plants and animals. For example, more than a million copies of the Alu sequence are present in the genome. Another effect of these mobile DNA sequences is that when they move within a genome, they can mutate or delete existing genes, nonlethal mutations accumulate within the gene pool and increase the amount of genetic variation. The abundance of some changes within the gene pool can be reduced by natural selection, while other more favorable mutations may accumulate
8.
Mutationism
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In biology, saltation is a sudden change from one generation to the next, that is large, or very large, in comparison with the usual variation of an organism. The term is used for changes that are atypical of, or violate. An example would be the origin of the feather, prior to Charles Darwin most evolutionary scientists had been saltationists. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a gradualist but similar to other scientists of the period had written that saltational evolution was possible, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire endorsed a theory of saltational evolution that monstrosities could become the founding fathers of new species by instantaneous transition from one form to the next. Geoffroy wrote that environmental pressures could produce sudden transformations to establish new species instantaneously, in 1864 Albert von Kölliker revived Geoffroys theory that evolution proceeds by large steps, under the name of heterogenesis. With the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 Charles Darwin had denied saltational evolution by writing that evolutionary transformation always proceeds gradually, Darwin continued in this belief throughout his life. From 1860 to 1880 saltation had a minority interest but by 1890 had become a major interest to scientists and they would not necessarily completely deny gradual variation, but claim that cardinally new ‘body plans’ come into being as a result of saltations. In the early 20th century a mechanism of saltation was proposed as large mutations and it was seen as a much faster alternative to the Darwinian concept of a gradual process of small random variations being acted on by natural selection. Some of these geneticists developed it into the theory of evolution. There was also a debate over accounts of the evolution of mimicry, the geneticist Reginald Punnett supported a saltational theory in his book Mimicry in Butterflies. This mutationist view of evolution was later replaced by the reconciliation of Mendelian genetics with natural selection into a framework for the neo-Darwinian synthesis. It was the emergence of population thinking in evolution which forced many scientists to adopt gradualism in the early 20th century, saltation was originally denied by the modern synthesis school of neo-Darwinism which favoured gradual evolution but has since been accepted due to recent evidence in evolutionary biology. In recent years there are some prominent proponents of saltation, including Carl Woese, the geneticist Barbara McClintock introduced the idea of jumping genes, chromosome transpositions that can produce rapid changes in the genome. Polyploidy, karyotypic fission, symbiogenesis and lateral gene transfer are possible mechanisms for saltational speciation and it is a popular misconception that punctuated equilibrium is a saltationist theory, often mistaken for Richard Goldschmidts hypothesis of Hopeful Monsters. In 1977 Stephen Jay Gould argued that the recent discovery of regulatory genes offered new evidence which supported some of Goldschmidts postulates, Gould argued that instances of rapid evolution neither undermine Darwinian theory nor await immediate discreditation. Gould insisted that Darwins belief in gradualism—which was largely inherited from the views of Charles Lyell—was never an essential component to Darwins theory of evolution. Thomas Henry Huxley also warned Darwin that he had loaded his work with a difficulty in adopting Natura non facit saltum so unreservedly. Huxley feared this assumption could discourage naturalists who believed that major leaps, Goldschmidt may have acted as the architect of his own undoing, but much of his work should evoke sympathetic attention today
9.
Leiden University
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Leiden University, located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family and Leiden University still have a close relationship, Queens Juliana and Beatrix and King Willem-Alexander are all former students. Leiden University has seven faculties, over 50 departments and enjoys an international reputation. Shanghai Jiao Tong Universitys 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Leiden University as the 29th best university worldwide, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings consistently rank Leiden University as the best university in Continental Europe for Arts and Humanities. During this time Leiden was home to figures as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Europaeum, Leiden University houses more than 40 national and international research institutes. In 1575, the emerging Dutch Republic did not have any universities in its northern heartland, the only other university in the Habsburg Netherlands was the University of Leuven in southern Leuven, firmly under Spanish control. It is said the choice fell on Leiden as a reward for the defence of Leiden against Spanish attacks in the previous year. Ironically, the name of Philip II of Spain, Williams adversary, appears on the foundation certificate. Philip II replied by forbidding any subject to study in Leiden, renowned philosopher Baruch Spinoza was based close to Leiden during this period and interacted with numerous scholars at the university. At the end of the century, Leiden University again became one of Europes leading universities. At the world’s first university low-temperature laboratory, professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes achieved temperatures of one degree above absolute zero of −273 degrees Celsius. In 1908 he was also the first to succeed in liquifying helium, Kamerlingh Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913. In 2005 the manuscript of Einstein on the theory of the monatomic ideal gas was discovered in one of Leidens libraries. Of the seventy-seven Spinozapremie, nineteen were granted to professors of the Universiteit Leiden, literary historian Frits van Oostrom was the first professor of Leiden to be granted the Spinoza award for his work on developing the NLCM centre into a top research centre. Among other leading professors are Wim Blockmans, professor of Medieval History, the portraits of many famous professors since the earliest days hang in the university aula, one of the most memorable places, as Niebuhr called it, in the history of science. The University Library, which has more than 5 and it houses the largest collections worldwide on Indonesia and the Caribbean. Scholars from all over the world visit Leiden University Library, the oldest in the Netherlands, the anatomical and pathological laboratories of the university are modern, and the museums of geology and mineralogy have been restored
10.
Council of State (Netherlands)
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The Council of State must be consulted by the cabinet on proposed legislation before a law is submitted to parliament. The Council of State Administrative Law division also serves as one of the four highest courts of appeal in administrative matters, the King is president of the Council of State but he seldom chairs meetings. The Vice-President of the Council of State chairs meetings in their absence, under Dutch constitutional law, the Vice-President of the Council is acting head of state when there is no monarch such as if the royal family were to become extinct. Members of the council were the nobles of the realm. The latter faction felt themselves pushed aside and resigned in 1567, before he could arrive the members of the Council were arrested in a coup by the Brussels garrison. Soon afterwards the Pacification of Ghent was concluded pitting the States-General of the Netherlands against the Spanish crown, when the latter retreated to Namur in early 1577 the Council of State split in two rumps, one joining Don Juan the other remaining close to the rebellious States-General. These members were discharged by king Philip in 1578, formally ending the Council as a Habsburg institution in what was to become the Dutch Republic. This Council soon split in two councils, one for the area West of the river Meuse, the other for the area East of that river. The first, residing in Antwerp where the States-General also convened, played the role up to the departure of the Duke. After his departure the Council followed the States-General to Middelburg, Delft, after the assassination of the Prince of Orange in 1584 the Council was given new executive powers and temporarily assumed full executive authority in the place of the Prince. The States-General meanwhile took the lead in the search for another protecting sovereign and this resulted in the Treaty of Nonsuch of 1585 with Elizabeth I of England that explicitly assumed a leading role of the Council in the evolving constitution of the provinces of the Union of Utrecht. Article XIV of the treaty authorised Elizabeth to appoint two English representatives on the Council, besides the Governor-General, who would preside the council, the next articles gave far-reaching authority to the Governor-General, acting with the council, in matters of defense, finance and government. This was the first instance of the way the mighty province of Holland frustrated the policies of Leicester and his attempt to found a new Council of Finances, which was supposed to take a number of the financial powers of the Council of State, was quietly thwarted. These tasks and this influence of the Council did not return after Leicester had left the Netherlands at the end of 1587, by 1588 the Council had therefore reached the structure and functions it would possess during the entire existence of the Dutch Republic. The Council was henceforth made up of members appointed by the States-General on the nomination of the Provincial States, the stadtholders of the provinces were ex officio members, at least outside the First Stadtholderless Period and Second Stadtholderless Period. The executive powers of the Council were limited to policy, administering the Dutch States Armys financial aspects. The Council usually played a role, as laid down in its Instruction of 1651. However, the secretary of the Council, Simon van Slingelandt played a role in an attempt at constitutional reform in 1717
11.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
12.
Herbarium
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A herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The term can refer to the building or room where the specimens are housed. The specimens in a herbarium are used as reference material in describing plant taxa. The same term is used in mycology to describe an equivalent collection of preserved fungi. A xylarium is a herbarium specialising in specimens of wood, the term hortorium has occasionally been applied to a herbarium specialising in preserving material of horticultural origin. During the drying process the specimens are retained within their flimsies at all times to minimise damage, for some plants it may prove helpful to allow the fresh specimen to wilt slightly before being arranged for the press. The sheet is placed in a protective case. As a precaution against insect attack, the plant is frozen or poisoned. Certain groups of plants are soft, bulky, or otherwise not amenable to drying and mounting on sheets, for these plants, other methods of preparation and storage may be used. For example, conifer cones and palm fronds may be stored in labelled boxes, representative flowers or fruits may be pickled in formaldehyde to preserve their three-dimensional structure. Small specimens, such as mosses and lichens, are often air-dried and packaged in paper envelopes. No matter the method of preservation, detailed information on where and when the plant was collected, habitat, color, and the name of the collector is usually included. The value of a herbarium is much enhanced by the possession of “types”, that is and it is also rich in types of Australian plants from the collections of Sir Joseph Banks and Robert Brown, and contains in addition many valuable modern collections. Most herbaria utilize a system of organizing their specimens into herbarium cases. Specimen sheets are stacked in groups by the species to which they belong, groups of species folders are then placed together into larger, heavier folders by genus. The genus folders are then sorted by taxonomic family according to the standard selected for use by the herbarium. Locating a specimen filed in the herbarium requires knowing the nomenclature and it also requires familiarity with possible name changes that have occurred since the specimen was collected, since the specimen may be filed under an older name. Modern herbaria often maintain electronic databases of their collections, many herbaria have initiatives to digitize specimens to produce a virtual herbarium
13.
Gymnasium (school)
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In its current meaning, it usually refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study. In the US, the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at a number of universities such as the University of Michigan as a model for their undergraduate college programs. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men, in the Polish educational system the gimnazjum is a middle school for pupils aged 13 to 16. The same applies in the Greek educational system, with the option of Εσπερινό Γυμνάσιο for adults. The gymnasium is a school which prepares the student for higher education at a university. They are thus meant for the more academically minded students, who are sifted out at about the age of 10–13, in addition to the usual curriculum, students of a gymnasium often study Latin and Ancient Greek. Some gymnasiums provide general education, others have a specific focus, today, a number of other areas of specialization exist, such as gymnasiums specializing in economics, technology or domestic sciences. In some countries, there is a notion of progymnasium, which is equivalent to beginning classes of the full gymnasium, here, the prefix pro indicates that this curriculum precedes normal gymnasium studies. The term was derived from the classical Greek word gymnasion, which was applied to an exercising ground in ancient Athens. Here teachers gathered and gave instruction between the hours devoted to exercises and sports, and thus the term became associated with. This use of the term did not prevail among the Romans, but was revived during the Renaissance in Italy, in 1538, Johannes Sturm founded at Strasbourg the school which became the model of the modern German gymnasium. In 1812, a Prussian regulation ordered that all schools which had the right to send their students to the university should bear the name of gymnasia, by the 20th century, this practice was followed in almost the entire Austrian-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires. In the modern era, many countries which have gymnasiums were once part of three empires. In Albania a gymnasium education takes three years following a compulsory nine-year elementary education and ending with an aptitude test called Matura Shtetërore. The final test is standardized at the level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities. There are both public and private schools in these countries. Therefore, gymnasiums often base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, in Austria the Gymnasium has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, and from 15 to 18, concluding with Matura. The Humanistisches Gymnasium focuses on Ancient Greek and Latin, the Neusprachliches Gymnasium puts its focus on actively spoken languages
14.
Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar
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Willem Frederik Reinier Suringar was a Dutch botanist. His son, Jan Valckenier Suringar, was also a botanist, in 1857 he obtained his PhD from the University of Leiden, where afterwards he served as an associate professor of botany. In 1862 he succeeded Willem Hendrik de Vriese as a professor of botany at Leiden. From 1871 to 1898 he was director of the Rijksherbarium, being the successor of Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel, in 1884–85 he took part in a scientific expedition to Suriname, British Guiana, Trinidad and the Netherlands Antilles. As a taxonomist he circumscribed numerous species within the genus Melocactus, in 1886 Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre named the genus Suringaria in his honor. Observationes phycologicae in floram batavam,1857, algae japonicae Musei botanici lugduno-batavi,1870. Zakflora, handleiding tot het bepalen van de in Nederland wildgroeiende planten, vierde bijdrage tot de kennis der Melocacti,1896
15.
Julius von Sachs
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Julius von Sachs was a German botanist from Breslau, Prussian Silesia. He is a figure in the history of botany. Sachs was born at Breslau on 2 October 1832 and his father, Graveur Sachs, was an engraver by trade, and father taught son delineation and accuracy of line and color. From earliest boyhood Julius was fascinated with plants, making collections of them on many excursions with his father. He gave much of his time between the ages of thirteen and sixteen to drawing and painting the flowers, fungi, at the Gymnasium from 1845 to 1850 he was most interested in the natural sciences, collecting skulls, writing a monograph on the crayfish. His natural science teacher, one Krober, showed a lack of foresight when he solemnly warned young Sachs against devoting himself to the natural sciences. When he was but sixteen years old, his father died, suddenly without financial support, he was fortunate to be taken into the family of Jan Evangelista Purkyně who had accepted a professorship at the university at the University of Prague. Sachs was admitted to the university in 1851, Sachs famously labored long hours in the laboratory for Purkyně, and then long hours for himself each day after his work in the laboratory was finished. After the lab, he could devote himself entirely to establishing how plants grow, in 1856 Sachs graduated as doctor of philosophy, and then adopted a botanical career, establishing himself as Privatdozent for plant physiology. In 1868 he accepted the chair of botany in the University of Würzburg and his earlier papers, scattered through the volumes of botanical journals and of the publications of learned societies, are of great and varied interest. Prominent among them is the series of Keimungsgeschichten, which laid the foundation of our knowledge of microchemical methods, then there is his resuscitation of the method of water-culture, and the application of it to the investigation of the problems of nutrition. Most important are his experiments, developing the concept of photosynthesis, a demonstration of this experiment is shown in the second episode of BBC Fours Botany, A Blooming History presented by Timothy Walker. Sachss later papers were almost exclusively published in the three volumes of the Arbeiten des botanischen Instituts in Würzburg and this was followed in 1868 by the first edition of his famous Lehrbuch der Botanik, by far the best book of its kind. It is a work, giving an able summary of the botanical science of the period. The third edition was translated into French by Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem in 1873, and into English by Alfred Bennett in 1875, the fourth and last German edition was published in 1874, and also issued by Oxford in 1882. A full account of Sachs life and work was given by Professor Goebel, formerly his assistant, in Flora, there is also an obituary notice of him in the Proc. In 1885 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts. The standard botanical author abbreviation Sachs is applied to species he described,1873, 4th ed.1874 1871–1872, Die Geschichte der Botanik vom 16
16.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
17.
Heidelberg University
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Heidelberg University is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germanys oldest university and it was the third university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidelberg has been an institution since 1899. The university consists of twelve faculties and offers programmes at undergraduate, graduate. The language of instruction is usually German, while a number of graduate degrees are offered in English. Associated with 31 Nobel Prize laureates, the university places an emphasis on research, modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychiatric genetics, environmental physics, and modern sociology were introduced as scientific disciplines by Heidelberg faculty. Approximately 1,000 doctorates are completed every year, with more than one third of the students coming from abroad. International students from some 130 countries account for more than 20 percent of the student body. The universitys noted alumni include eleven domestic and foreign Heads of State or Heads of Government, the Great Schism of 1378 made it possible for Heidelberg, a relatively small city and capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate, to gain its own university. The Great Schism was initiated by the election of two popes after the death of Pope Gregory XI in the same year, one successor resided in Avignon and the other in Rome. Rupert I recognized the opportunity and initiated talks with the Curia, as specified in the papal charter, the university was modelled after University of Paris and included four faculties, philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, and medicine. On 18 October 1386 a special Pontifical High Mass in the Heiliggeistkirche was the ceremony that established the university, on 19 October 1386 the first lecture was held, making Heidelberg the oldest university in Germany. In November 1386, Marsilius of Inghen was elected first rector of the university, the rector seal motto was semper apertus—i. e. The book of learning is always open, the university grew quickly and in March 1390,185 students were enrolled at the university. This resulted in establishing a reputation for the university and its professors. Due to the influence of Marsilius, the university initially taught the nominalism or via moderna, the transition from scholastic to humanistic culture was effected by the chancellor and bishop Johann von Dalberg in the late 15th century. Humanism was represented at Heidelberg University particularly by the founder of the older German Humanistic School Rudolph Agricola, Conrad Celtes, Jakob Wimpfeling, and Johann Reuchlin. Æneas Silvius Piccolomini was chancellor of the university in his capacity of provost of Worms, in 1482, Pope Sixtus IV permitted laymen and married men to be appointed professors in the ordinary of medicine through a papal dispensation
18.
Wilhelm Hofmeister
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Wilhelm Friedrich Benedikt Hofmeister was a German biologist and botanist. He stands as one of the giants in the history of biology and belongs in the same pantheon as Darwin. Hofmeister was the son of a book and music publisher and seller in Leipzig and he left school at the age of 15 and was apprenticed in a bookshop in Hamburg by an acquaintance of his father. He did most of his research in his free-time, largely from four to six in the morning going to work. Nevertheless, he was only 27 when he published his monograph on the alternation of generations in plants. Not until 1863, he was employed as a professor and that was at the University of Heidelberg. In 1872, he moved to the University of Tübingen, Hofmeister is widely credited with discovery of alternation of generations as a general principle in plant life. Hofmeister was a student of the genetics in plants. He is cited for the first studies of plant embryology, according to C. D. Darlington, Hofmeister had observed what would later be called chromosomes in a dividing cell nucleus as early as 1848. He left detailed sketches which are reproduced in Darlingtons The Facts of Life, in 1869, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Hofmeisters contribution to biology is still far from widely acknowledged and this may partly be attributed to the fact that only one of his works was translated from German to English. However, Kaplan & Cooke conclude that his reputation became eclipsed because he was so far ahead of his contemporaries that no one could understand or appreciate his work. Study of Hofmeisters work is limited because it is published in German. Untersuchungen des Vorgangs bei der Befruchtung der Oenothereen, die Entstehung des Embryo der Phanerogamen. Vergleichende Untersuchungen der Keimung, Entfaltung und Fruchtbildung höherer Kryptogamen und der Samenbildung der Coniferen, English translation, On the germination, development and fructification of the higher Cryptogamia and on the fructification of the Coniferae. Neue Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Embryobildung der Phanerogamen, dikotyledonen mit ursprünglich einzelligem, nur durch Zellentheilung wachsendem Endosperm. Neue Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Embryobildung der Phanerogamen, in, W. Hofmeister, Handbuch der Physiologischen Botanik I-1. In, W. Hofmeister, Handbuch der Physiologischen Botanik I-2
19.
Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
20.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
21.
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
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The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg within Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. MLU offers German and international courses leading to academic degrees such as B. A. B. Sc, the university was created in 1817 through the merger of the University of Wittenberg and the University of Halle. The university is named after the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who was a professor in Wittenberg, today, the university itself is located in Halle, while the Leucorea Foundation in Wittenberg serves as MLU’s convention centre for seminars as well as for academic and political conferences. Both Halle and Wittenberg are about one hour from Berlin via the Berlin–Halle railway, the University of Wittenberg was founded in 1502 by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony. Notable attendees include George Müller, Georg Joachim Rheticus and – in fiction – William Shakespeares Prince Hamlet and Horatio, the University of Halle was founded in 1694 by Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, who became Frederick I, King in Prussia, in 1701. In the late 17th century and early 18th century, Halle became a centre for Pietism within Prussia, in the 17th and 18th centuries the universities were centers of the German Enlightenment. Christian Wolff was an important proponent of rationalism and he influenced many German scholars, such as Immanuel Kant. Christian Thomasius was at the time the first philosopher in Germany to hold his lectures not in Latin. He contributed to a programme in philosophy but also tried to establish a more common-sense point of view. The University of Wittenberg was closed in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars, the town of Wittenberg was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and the university was then merged with the Prussian University of Halle in 1817. It took its present name on 10 November 1933, more than a dozen professors were expelled. MLUs historical observatory, built in 1788 by Carl Gotthard Langhans, members are mostly gifted students of all faculties, but also academic staff and alumni. The university choir regularly performs at the international Handel Festival in George Frideric Handel’s birthplace, C. D. Wyneken, Z, Paul Zarifopol, Caspar Ziegler, Karl Ziegler, Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, Max Zorn, Leopold Zunz. List of early modern universities in Europe The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Official website Official website Download MLU Yearbook 2007 /
22.
University of Amsterdam
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The University of Amsterdam is a public university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities and later renamed for the city of Amsterdam and it is one of the largest research universities in Europe with 31,186 students,4,794 staff,1,340 PhD students and an annual budget of €600 million. It is the largest university in the Netherlands by enrollment, the main campus is located in central Amsterdam, with a few faculties located in adjacent boroughs. The university is organised into seven faculties, Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Science, Law, Medicine, the University of Amsterdam has produced six Nobel Laureates and five prime ministers of the Netherlands. In 2014, it was ranked 50th in the world, 15th in Europe, in January 1632, the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam was founded by the municipal authorities in Amsterdam. It was mainly devoted to medical teaching, the first two professors were Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus. The Athenaeum Illustre provided education comparable to higher education institutions. After training at the Athenaeum, students could complete their education at a university in another town, Amsterdams large degree of religious freedom allowed for the establishment of these institutions. Students of the Colegium Chirugicum and the institutions regularly attended classes at the Athenaeum Illustre. ”The Athenaeum began offering classes for students attending non-academic professional training in pharmacy. The Athenaeum remained an institution until the 19th century, with no more than 250 students. Alumni of the Athenaeum include Cornelis Petrus Tiele, in 1877, the Athenuem Illustre became the Municipal University of Amsterdam and received the right to confer doctoral degrees. This gave the university the same privileges as national universities while being funded by the city of Amsterdam, the professors and lecturers were appointed by the municipal council. This resulted in a staff that was in ways more colorful than the staffs of national universities. The University of Amsterdams municipal status brought about the relatively early addition of the faculties of Economics, after the World War II the dramatic rise in the cost of university education put a constraint on the university’s growth. In 1961 the national government made the university a national university, giving it its current name, funding was now given by the national government instead of the city and the appointment of professors was transferred to the Board of Governors. The city of Amsterdam retained a limited influence until 1971, when the appointment was handed over to the Executive Board, the protest lasted for days and was eventually broken up by the police. During the 1970s and 1980s, the university was often the target of nationwide student actions, the university saw considerable expansion since becoming a national university, from 7,500 students in 1960 to over 32,000 in 2010. In 2007, UvA undertook the construction of the Science Park Amsterdam, much of the park has now been completed
23.
Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam)
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Hortus Botanicus is a botanical garden in the Plantage district of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. One of the oldest in the world, it is one of Amsterdams major tourist attractions, Hortus Botanicus was founded in 1638 by the city to serve as an herb garden for doctors and apothecaries. It contains more than six thousand tropical and indigenous trees and plants, the monumental Palm House dates from 1912 and is renowned for its collection of cycads. The hexagonal pavilion dates from the late 1600s, the entrance gate was built in the early 1700s. The Orangery dates from 1875, and the Palm House and Hugo de Vries Laboratory - both created in Amsterdam School expressionist architecture - date from 1912 and 1915. The garden was almost bankrupt in 1987 when the University of Amsterdam stopped paying its expenses, now the Hortus Botanicus is supported by the Amsterdam City Council as well. There are also two halls at the garden which are now used for conferences and ceremonies, and a cafe serves as meeting point for locals, Hortus Botanicus is now a popular attraction for both Dutch and international visitors. The collection is famous for some of its trees and plants, well-known plants and trees can be found there, like the Persian ironwood tree which is known in Dutch as Perzische Parrotia. A single coffee plant, Coffea arabica, in Hortuss collection served as the parent for the coffee culture in Central. Hugo de Vries was the director of the garden during 1885–1918, recent additions to Hortus include a huge hothouse, which incorporates three different tropical climates. Media related to Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam at Wikimedia Commons Official website
24.
Wilhelm Johannsen
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Wilhelm Johannsen was a Danish botanist, plant physiologist, and geneticist. He is best known for coining the terms phenotype and genotype, while very young, he was apprenticed to a pharmacist and worked in Denmark and Germany beginning in 1872 until passing his pharmacists exam in 1879. In 1881, he became assistant in the department at the Carlsberg Laboratory under the chemist Johan Kjeldahl. Johannsen studied the metabolism of dormancy and germination in seeds, tubers and he showed that dormancy could be broken by various anesthetic compounds, such as diethyl ether and chloroform. In 1892, he was appointed lecturer at Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University and later professor of botany. His most well-known research concerned so-called pure lines of the common bean. He was able to show even in populations homozygous for all traits, i. e. without genetic variation. This was attributable to resource provision to the plant and to the position of seeds in pods. This led him to coin the terms phenotype and genotype, only with the modern evolutionary synthesis, was it established that variation needed to be heritable to act as the raw material for selection. The terms phenotype and genotype were created by Wilhelm Johannsen and first used in his paper Om arvelighed i samfund og i rene linier and this book was rewritten, enlarged and translated to German as Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre. It was in this book Johannsen introduced the term gene and this term was coined in opposition to the then common pangene that stemmed from Darwins theory of pangenesis. The book became one of the texts of genetics. Also in 1905, Johannsen was appointed professor of plant physiology at the University of Copenhagen, in December 1910, Johannsen was invited to give an address before the American Society of Naturalists. This talk was printed in the American Naturalist, in 1911, he was invited to give a series of four lectures at Columbia University. Johannsen was a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Anker, Jean Wilhelm Johannsen, pp. 177–180 in, Meisen, prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages. University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary, roll-Hansen, Nils The Death of Spontaneous Generation and the Birth of the Gene, Two Case Studies of Relativism. Social Studies of Science 13, 481-519, JSTOR284846 Kim, Kyung-Man On the Reception of Johannsens Pure Line Theory, Toward a Sociology of Scientific Validity
25.
Dominance (genetics)
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Dominance in genetics is a relationship between alleles of one gene, in which the effect on phenotype of one allele masks the contribution of a second allele at the same locus. The first allele is dominant and the allele is recessive. For genes on an autosome, the alleles and their traits are autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive. Dominance is a key concept in Mendelian inheritance and classical genetics, often the dominant allele codes for a functional protein whereas the recessive allele does not. A classic example of dominance is the inheritance of seed shape in peas, peas may be round, associated with allele R or wrinkled, associated with allele r. In this case, three combinations of alleles are possible, RR, Rr, and rr, the RR individuals have round peas and the rr individuals have wrinkled peas. In Rr individuals the R allele masks the presence of the r allele, thus, allele R is dominant to allele r, and allele r is recessive to allele R. This use of upper case letters for dominant alleles and lower case ones for recessive alleles is a widely followed convention, more generally, where a gene exists in two allelic versions, three combinations of alleles are possible, AA, Aa, and aa. Dominance is not inherent to either an allele or its phenotype and it is a relationship between two alleles of a gene and their associated phenotypes, one allele can be dominant over a second allele, recessive to a third allele, and codominant to a fourth. Also, an allele may be dominant for an aspect of phenotype. Dominance differs from epistasis, a relationship in which an allele of one gene affects the expression of another allele at a different gene, the concept of dominance was introduced by Gregor Johann Mendel. Though Mendel, The Father of Genetics, first used the term in the 1860s, when bred separately, the plants always produced the same phenotypes, generation after generation. However, when lines with different phenotypes were crossed, one, Mendel did not use the terms gene, allele, phenotype, genotype, homozygote, and heterozygote, all of which were introduced later. He did introduce the notation of capital and lowercase letters for dominant and recessive alleles, respectively, most animals and some plants have paired chromosomes, and are described as diploid. They have two versions of each chromosome, one contributed by the mothers ovum, and the other by the sperm, known as gametes, described as haploid. Each chromosome of a pair is structurally similar to the other. The DNA in each chromosome functions as a series of genes that influence various traits. Thus, each also has a corresponding homologue, which may exist in different versions called alleles
26.
Mendelian inheritance
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Mendelian inheritance is a type of biological inheritance that follows the laws originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866 and re-discovered in 1900. These laws were very controversial. When Mendels theories were integrated with the Boveri–Sutton chromosome theory of inheritance by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1915, between 1856 and 1863, Mendel cultivated and tested some 5,000 pea plants. From these experiments, he induced two generalizations which later known as Mendels Principles of Heredity or Mendelian inheritance. In 1900, however, his work was re-discovered by three European scientists, Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and Erich von Tschermak. De Vries may not have acknowledged truthfully how much of his knowledge of the came from his own work. Later scholars have accused Von Tschermak of not truly understanding the results at all, regardless, the re-discovery made Mendelism an important but controversial theory. Its most vigorous promoter in Europe was William Bateson, who coined the terms genetics, the model of heredity was highly contested by other biologists because it implied that heredity was discontinuous, in opposition to the apparently continuous variation observable for many traits. Many biologists also dismissed the theory because they were not sure it would apply to all species, Mendels findings allowed scientists such as Fisher and J. B. S. Haldane to predict the expression of traits on the basis of mathematical probabilities, an important aspect of Mendels success can be traced to his decision to start his crosses only with plants he demonstrated were true-breeding. He also only measured absolute characteristics, such as color, shape and he expressed his results numerically and subjected them to statistical analysis. His method of analysis and his large sample size gave credibility to his data. He also had the foresight to follow several successive generations of pea plants, finally, he performed test crosses to reveal the presence and proportions of recessive characters. Without his diligence and careful attention to procedure and detail, Mendels work would have had a smaller impact on the world of genetics. Mendel discovered that, when he crossed purebred white flower and purple flower pea plants, rather than being a mix of the two, the offspring was purple-flowered. When Mendel self-fertilized the F1 generation pea plants, he obtained a purple flower to white flower ratio in the F2 generation of 3 to 1, the results of this cross are tabulated in the Punnett square to the right. He then conceived the idea of heredity units, which he called factors, Mendel found that there are alternative forms of factors—now called genes—that account for variations in inherited characteristics. For example, the gene for color in pea plants exists in two forms, one for purple and the other for white
27.
Phenotype
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A phenotype is the composite of an organisms observable characteristics or traits, such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior. A phenotype results from the expression of a genetic code, its genotype, as well as the influence of environmental factors. When two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the population of a species, the species is called polymorphic. A well-documented polymorphism is Labrador Retriever coloring, while the color depends on many genes, it is clearly seen in the environment as yellow, black. This genotype-phenotype distinction was proposed by Wilhelm Johannsen in 1911 to make clear the difference between an organisms heredity and what that heredity produces, the distinction is similar to that proposed by August Weismann, who distinguished between germ plasm and somatic cells. The term phenotype has sometimes incorrectly used as a shorthand for phenotypic difference from wild type. Despite its seemingly straightforward definition, the concept of the phenotype has hidden subtleties and it may seem that anything dependent on the genotype is a phenotype, including molecules such as RNA and proteins. It may seem that this goes beyond the intentions of the concept with its focus on the organism in itself. Either way, the term phenotype includes traits or characteristics that can be visible by some technical procedure. A notable extension to this idea is the presence of molecules or metabolites that are generated by organisms from chemical reactions of enzymes. Another extension adds behavior to the phenotype, since behaviors are also observable characteristics, behavioral phenotypes include cognitive, personality, and behavioral patterns. Some behavioral phenotypes may characterize psychiatric disorders or syndromes, phenotypic variation is a fundamental prerequisite for evolution by natural selection. It is the organism as a whole that contributes to the next generation. Without phenotypic variation, there would be no evolution by natural selection, the plant Hieracium umbellatum is found growing in two different habitats in Sweden. These habitats alternate along the coast of Sweden and the habitat that the seeds of Hieracium umbellatum land in, the concept of phenotype can be extended to variations below the level of the gene that affect an organisms fitness. For example, silent mutations that do not change the amino acid sequence of a gene may change the frequency of guanine-cytosine base pairs. The term extended phenotype refers to the idea that a phenotype is not restricted to biological processes, the concept generalized by Richard Dawkins explains that phenotype includes all the influence a gene has on the environment and other organisms. ”There are three types of extended phenotypes. The first describes an organism using architectural constructions to modify their environment for living, the most common example given by Dawkins is the beaver
28.
Homology (biology)
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In biology, homology is the existence of shared ancestry between a pair of structures, or genes, in different taxa. Evolutionary biology explains homologous structures adapted to different purposes as the result of descent with modification from a common ancestor, examples include the legs of a centipede, the maxillary palp and labial palp of an insect, and the spinous processes of successive vertebrae in a vertebral column. Sequence homology between protein or DNA sequences is defined in terms of shared ancestry. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of either an event or a duplication event. Homology among proteins or DNA is inferred from their sequence similarity, significant similarity is strong evidence that two sequences are related by divergent evolution from a common ancestor. Alignments of multiple sequences are used to discover the homologous regions, the word homology, coined in about 1656, derives from the Greek ὁμόλογος homologos from ὁμός homos same and λόγος logos relation. Homology is the relationship between biological structures or sequences that are derived from a common ancestor, for example, many insects possess two pairs of flying wings. In beetles, the first pair of wings has evolved into a pair of hard wing covers, the same major forearm bones are found in fossils of lobe-finned fish such as Eusthenopteron. The opposite of homologous organs are analogous organs which do similar jobs in two taxa that were not present in their last common ancestor but rather evolved separately. For example, the wings of insects and birds evolved independently in widely separated groups, similarly, the wings of a sycamore maple seed and the wings of a bird are analogous but not homologous, as they develop from quite different structures. A structure can be homologous at one level, but only analogous at another, for example, in the pterosaurs, the wing involves both the forelimb and the hindlimb. Analogy is called homoplasy in cladistics, and convergent or parallel evolution in evolutionary biology, specialised terms are used in taxonomic research. Primary homology is that initially conjectured by a researcher based on similar structure or anatomical connections, secondary homology is implied by parsimony analysis, where a character that only occurs once on a tree is taken to be homologous. As implied in this definition, many cladists consider homology to be synonymous with synapomorphy, homologies provide the fundamental basis for all biological classification, although some may be highly counter-intuitive. The homologies between these have been discovered by comparing genes in evolutionary developmental biology, among insects, the stinger of the female honey bee is a modified ovipositor, homologous with ovipositors in other insects such as the Orthoptera, Hemiptera, and those Hymenoptera without stingers. The three small bones in the ear of mammals including humans, the malleus, incus. The malleus and incus develop in the embryo from structures that form jaw bones in lizards, both lines of evidence show that these bones are homologous, sharing a common ancestor. Among the many homologies in mammal reproductive systems, ovaries and testicles are homologous, in many plants, defensive or storage structures are made by modifications of the development of primary leaves, stems, and roots
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Horizontal gene transfer
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Horizontal gene transfer or lateral gene transfer is the movement of genetic material between unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the transmission of DNA from parent to offspring. HGT is an important factor in the evolution of many organisms and it often involves temperate bacteriophages and plasmids. Most thinking in genetics has focused upon vertical transfer, but horizontal gene transfer is important, artificial horizontal gene transfer is a form of genetic engineering. Inter-bacterial gene transfer was first described in Japan in a 1959 publication that demonstrated the transfer of resistance between different species of bacteria. In the mid-1980s, Syvanen predicted that lateral gene transfer existed, had biological significance, as Jian, Rivera and Lake put it, Increasingly, studies of genes and genomes are indicating that considerable horizontal transfer has occurred between prokaryotes. The phenomenon appears to have had significance for unicellular eukaryotes as well. As Bapteste et al. observe, additional evidence suggests that gene transfer might also be an important evolutionary mechanism in protist evolution, there is some evidence that even higher plants and animals have been affected and this has raised concerns for safety. Grafting of one plant to another can transfer chloroplasts, mitochondrial DNA, some Lepidoptera have been genetically modified by horizontal gene transfer from the wasp bracovirus. Bites from the insect Reduviidae can, via a parasite, infect humans with the trypanosomal Chagas disease and it has been suggested that lateral gene transfer to humans from bacteria may play a role in cancer. Richardson and Palmer state, Horizontal gene transfer has played a role in bacterial evolution and is fairly common in certain unicellular eukaryotes. However, the prevalence and importance of HGT in the evolution of multicellular eukaryotes remain unclear, some have argued that the process may be a hidden hazard of genetic engineering as it could allow transgenic DNA to spread from species to species. There are several mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer, Transformation, the alteration of a cell resulting from the introduction, uptake. This process is common in bacteria, but less so in eukaryotes. Transformation is often used in laboratories to insert genes into bacteria for experiments or for industrial or medical applications. See also molecular biology and biotechnology, transduction, the process in which bacterial DNA is moved from one bacterium to another by a virus. Bacterial conjugation, a process involves the transfer of DNA via a plasmid from a donor cell to a recombinant recipient cell during cell-to-cell contact. Gene transfer agents, virus-like elements encoded by the host that are found in the alphaproteobacteria order Rhodobacterales. A transposon is a segment of DNA that can sometimes pick up a resistance gene and insert it into a plasmid or chromosome
30.
Jantina Tammes
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Jantina Tine Tammes was a Dutch botanist and geneticist and the first professor of genetics in the Netherlands. Tammes was born on 23 June 1871 in Groningen in the Netherlands and she was the daughter of cocoa manufacturer Beerend Tammes and Swaantje Pot. She had a sister and four brothers, and was the aunt of the international lawyer Arnold Tammes and she was allowed to attend lectures but not to take any examinations, although she was awarded a teaching diploma. In 1897 Tammes was appointed as an assistant to Jan Willem Moll, there she gained exposure to issues of variability, evolution and genetics. However, her health prevented her from travelling to the Far East. Over the next decade Tammes published several influential works, in Die Periodicität morphologischer Erscheinungen bei den Pflanzen she was one of the first Dutch scientists to report on variability, evolution and genetics. Then in 1907 she published Der Flachsstengel, Eine statistisch-anatomische Monographie which used statistics, in 1911 Tammes was granted an honorary doctorate in zoology and botany. From April 1912 she replaced Moll as head of practical microscopy, in 1919 she was appointed extraordinary professor of variability and genetics, the first professor in the Netherlands in this field of research. From 1932 to 1943 Tammes was editor of the journal Genetica and she was also active in the Dutch Association of Women In Higher Education and an outspoken opponent of the principle of eugenics. Tammes died in Groningen in 1947, contains a bibliography of Tammes works
31.
Carl Correns
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Correns was a student of Karl Nägeli, a renowned botanist with whom Mendel corresponded about his work with peas, but who failed to understand how significant Mendels work was. Carl Correns was born September 1864 in Munich, orphaned at an early age, he was raised by an aunt in Switzerland. He entered the University of Munich in 1885, while there, he was encouraged to study botany by Karl Nägeli, a botanist whom Mendel corresponded with on the subject of his pea plant experiments. After completing his thesis, Correns became a tutor at the University of Tübingen, Carl Correns conducted much of the foundational work for the field of genetics at the turn of the 20th century. He rediscovered and independently verified the work of Mendel in a model organism. He also discovered cytoplasmic inheritance, an important extension of Mendels theories, most of Correns work went unpublished however, and was destroyed in the Berlin bombings of 1945. In 1892, while at the University of Tübingen, Correns began to experiment with trait inheritance in plants and he focused mainly on the hawkweed plant experiments that Mendel carried out, not being aware of the pea plant results. Correns published his first paper on 25 January 1900, which cited both Charles Darwin and Mendel, though without fully recognising the relevance of genetics to Darwins ideas. In Correns paper, G. Mendels Law Concerning the Behavior of the Progeny of Racial Hybrids, he restated Mendels results and his law of segregation and law of independent assortement. Correns found that, while Mendelian traits behave independently of the sex of the source parent, for instance, pollinating an ovule from a white branch with pollen from another white area resulted in white progeny, the predicted result for a recessive gene. Green pollen used on a green stigma resulted in all green progeny, however, if green pollen fertilized a white stigma, the progeny were white, but if the sexes of the donors were reversed, the progeny were green. This non-mendelian inheritance pattern was later traced to a gene named iojap which codes for a protein required for proper assembly of the chloroplast ribosome. Conversely, if a father is paired with a green mother with functional chloroplasts, the progeny will only inherit functional chloroplasts. In his 1909 paper, he established variegated leaf color as the first conclusive example of cytoplasmic inheritance, G. Mendels Regel über das Verhalten der Nachkommenschaft der Rassenbastarde. Hagemann, R. Erwin Baur or Carl Correns, who created the theory of plastid inheritance. History and philosophy of the life sciences, rheinberger, H J. Mendelian inheritance in Germany between 1900 and 1910. Corcos, A F, Monaghan F V. Correns, an independent discoverer of Mendelism, the Mendel newsletter, archival resources for the history of genetics & allied sciences. Article relating the work of Gregor Mendel
32.
Erich von Tschermak
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Erich Tschermak, Edler von Seysenegg was an Austrian agronomist who developed several new disease-resistant crops, including wheat-rye and oat hybrids. He was a son of the Moravia-born mineralogist Gustav Tschermak von Seysenegg and his maternal grandfather was the famous botanist, Eduard Fenzl, who taught Gregor Mendel botany during his student days in Vienna. He received his doctorate from the University of Halle, Germany, Tschermak accepted a teaching position at the University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna in 1901, and became professor there five years later, in 1906. Von Tschermak is one of four men—see also Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, von Tschermak published his findings in June,1900. His works in genetics were largely influenced by his brother Armin von Tschermak-Seysenegg, monaghan, F V, Corcos A F. Tschermak, a non-discoverer of mendelism. Works by or about Erich von Tschermak at Internet Archive Article relating the work of Gregor Mendel
33.
Oenothera
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Oenothera is a genus of about 145 species of herbaceous flowering plants native to the Americas. It is the genus of the family Onagraceae. Common names include evening primrose, suncups, and sundrops and they are not closely related to the true primroses. The species vary in size from small alpine plants 10 centimeters tall, such as O. acaulis from Chile, to vigorous lowland species growing to 3 meters, the leaves form a basal rosette at ground level and spiral up to the flowering stems. The blades are dentate or deeply lobed, the flowers of many species open in the evening, hence the name evening primrose. They may open in under a minute, most species have yellow flowers, but some have white, purple, pink, or red. Most native desert species are white, Oenothera caespitosa, a species of western North America, produces white flowers that turn pink with age. One of the most distinctive features of the flower is the stigma, Oenothera flowers are pollinated by insects, such as moths and bees. Bees with typical scopa cannot hold it, also, the flowers open at a time when most bee species are inactive, so the bees which visit Oenothera are generally vespertine temporal specialists, bees that forage in the evening. The seeds ripen from late summer to fall, Oenothera are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species. The flower moths Schinia felicitata and S. florida both feed exclusively on the genus, and the former is limited to O. deltoides, in the wild, evening primroses act as primary colonizers, quickly appearing in recently cleared areas. They germinate in disturbed soils, and can be found in types such as dunes, roadsides, railway embankments. They are often casual and are eventually outcompeted by other species, the genus Oenothera may have originated in Mexico and Central America, and spread farther north in North America and into South America. With the advent of travel, species are now found in most temperate regions of the world. In Europe alone there are about 70 introduced species of Oenothera, during the Pleistocene era a succession of ice ages swept down across North America, with intervening warm periods. This occurred four times, and the genus experienced four separate waves of colonization and this formed the present-day subsection Euoenothera. The group is genetically and morphologically diverse and the species are largely interfertile and this pattern of repeated colonizations resulted in a unique genetic conformation in the Euoenothera whereby the chromosomes at meiosis can form circles rather than pairs. This is the result of several reciprocal translocations between chromosomes such that the pairing occurs only at the tips and this resulted in the evolution of many sympatric races in North America east of the Rocky Mountains
34.
Saltation (biology)
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In biology, saltation is a sudden change from one generation to the next, that is large, or very large, in comparison with the usual variation of an organism. The term is used for changes that are atypical of, or violate. An example would be the origin of the feather, prior to Charles Darwin most evolutionary scientists had been saltationists. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a gradualist but similar to other scientists of the period had written that saltational evolution was possible, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire endorsed a theory of saltational evolution that monstrosities could become the founding fathers of new species by instantaneous transition from one form to the next. Geoffroy wrote that environmental pressures could produce sudden transformations to establish new species instantaneously, in 1864 Albert von Kölliker revived Geoffroys theory that evolution proceeds by large steps, under the name of heterogenesis. With the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 Charles Darwin had denied saltational evolution by writing that evolutionary transformation always proceeds gradually, Darwin continued in this belief throughout his life. From 1860 to 1880 saltation had a minority interest but by 1890 had become a major interest to scientists and they would not necessarily completely deny gradual variation, but claim that cardinally new ‘body plans’ come into being as a result of saltations. In the early 20th century a mechanism of saltation was proposed as large mutations and it was seen as a much faster alternative to the Darwinian concept of a gradual process of small random variations being acted on by natural selection. Some of these geneticists developed it into the theory of evolution. There was also a debate over accounts of the evolution of mimicry, the geneticist Reginald Punnett supported a saltational theory in his book Mimicry in Butterflies. This mutationist view of evolution was later replaced by the reconciliation of Mendelian genetics with natural selection into a framework for the neo-Darwinian synthesis. It was the emergence of population thinking in evolution which forced many scientists to adopt gradualism in the early 20th century, saltation was originally denied by the modern synthesis school of neo-Darwinism which favoured gradual evolution but has since been accepted due to recent evidence in evolutionary biology. In recent years there are some prominent proponents of saltation, including Carl Woese, the geneticist Barbara McClintock introduced the idea of jumping genes, chromosome transpositions that can produce rapid changes in the genome. Polyploidy, karyotypic fission, symbiogenesis and lateral gene transfer are possible mechanisms for saltational speciation and it is a popular misconception that punctuated equilibrium is a saltationist theory, often mistaken for Richard Goldschmidts hypothesis of Hopeful Monsters. In 1977 Stephen Jay Gould argued that the recent discovery of regulatory genes offered new evidence which supported some of Goldschmidts postulates, Gould argued that instances of rapid evolution neither undermine Darwinian theory nor await immediate discreditation. Gould insisted that Darwins belief in gradualism—which was largely inherited from the views of Charles Lyell—was never an essential component to Darwins theory of evolution. Thomas Henry Huxley also warned Darwin that he had loaded his work with a difficulty in adopting Natura non facit saltum so unreservedly. Huxley feared this assumption could discourage naturalists who believed that major leaps, Goldschmidt may have acted as the architect of his own undoing, but much of his work should evoke sympathetic attention today
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Thomas Hunt Morgan
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Morgan received his Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University in zoology in 1890 and researched embryology during his tenure at Bryn Mawr. Following the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance in 1900, Morgan began to study the characteristics of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In his famous Fly Room at Columbia University, Morgan demonstrated that genes are carried on chromosomes and are the basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of the science of genetics. During his distinguished career, Morgan wrote 22 books and 370 scientific papers, as a result of his work, Drosophila became a major model organism in contemporary genetics. The Division of Biology which he established at the California Institute of Technology has produced seven Nobel Prize winners, Morgan was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Charlton Hunt Morgan and Ellen Key Howard Morgan. Through his mother, he was the great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner, following the Civil War, the family fell on hard times with the temporary loss of civil and some property rights for those who aided the Confederacy. His father had difficulty finding work in politics and spent much of his time coordinating veterans reunions, beginning at age 16 in the Preparatory Department, Morgan attended the State College of Kentucky. He focused on science, he particularly enjoyed natural history, and he graduated as valedictorian in 1886 with a Bachelor of Science degree. The college required two years of study at another institution and an examination by the college faculty, the college offered Morgan a full professorship, however, he chose to stay at Johns Hopkins and was awarded a relatively large fellowship to help him fund his studies. He concluded that with respect to embryology, they were closely related to spiders than crustaceans. Based on the publication of work, Morgan was awarded his Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins in 1890. He used the fellowship to travel to Jamaica, the Bahamas, nearly every summer from 1890 to 1942, Morgan returned to the Marine Biological Laboratory to conduct research. He became very involved in governance of the institution, including serving as an MBL trustee from 1897 to 1945, in 1890, Morgan was appointed associate professor at Johns Hopkins sister school Bryn Mawr College, replacing his colleague Edmund Beecher Wilson. Morgan taught all morphology-related courses, while the member of the department, Jacques Loeb. Although Loeb stayed for one year, it was the beginning of their lifelong friendship. Morgan lectured in biology five days a week, giving two lectures a day and he frequently included his own recent research in his lectures. Although an enthusiastic teacher, he was most interested in research in the laboratory, during the first few years at Bryn Mawr, he produced descriptive studies of sea acorns, ascidian worms and frogs
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Polyploid
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Polyploid cells and organisms are those containing more than two paired sets of chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes—one set inherited from each parent, however, polyploidy is found in some organisms and is especially common in plants. In addition, polyploidy occurs in tissues of animals that are otherwise diploid. Species whose cells do not have nuclei, that is, Prokaryotes, may be polyploid organisms, hence ploidy is defined with respect to a cell. Most eukaryotes have diploid somatic cells, but produce haploid gametes by meiosis, a monoploid has only one set of chromosomes, and the term is usually only applied to cells or organisms that are normally diploid. Male bees and other Hymenoptera, for example, are monoploid, unlike animals, plants and multicellular algae have life cycles with two alternating multicellular generations. The gametophyte generation is haploid, and produces gametes by mitosis, polyploidy refers to a numerical change in a whole set of chromosomes. Organisms in which a particular chromosome, or chromosome segment, is under- or overrepresented are said to be aneuploid, polyploidy may occur due to abnormal cell division, either during mitosis, or commonly during metaphase I in meiosis. Polyploidy occurs in highly differentiated human tissues in the liver, heart muscle and it occurs in the somatic cells of some animals, such as goldfish, salmon, and salamanders, but is especially common among ferns and flowering plants, including both wild and cultivated species. Many agriculturally important plants of the genus Brassica are also tetraploids, oryzalin will also double the existing chromosome content. Polyploid types are labeled according to the number of sets in the nucleus. The letter x is used to represent the number of chromosomes in a single set, examples in animals are more common in non-vertebrates such as flatworms, leeches, and brine shrimp. Within vertebrates, examples of stable polyploidy include the salmonids and many cyprinids, some fish have as many as 400 chromosomes. Polyploidy also occurs commonly in amphibians, for example the biomedically-important Xenopus genus contains many different species with as many as 12 sets of chromosomes, polyploid lizards are also quite common, but are sterile and must reproduce by parthenogenesis. While mammalian liver cells are polyploid, rare instances of polyploid mammals are known, an octodontid rodent of Argentinas harsh desert regions, known as the plains viscacha rat has been reported as an exception to this rule. However, careful analysis using chromosome paints shows that there are two copies of each chromosome in T. barrerae, not the four expected if it were truly a tetraploid. This rodent is not a rat, but kin to guinea pigs and its new diploid number is 102 and so its cells are roughly twice normal size. Its closest living relation is Octomys mimax, the Andean Viscacha-Rat of the same family and it was therefore surmised that an Octomys-like ancestor produced tetraploid offspring that were, by virtue of their doubled chromosomes, reproductively isolated from their parents
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Homologous chromosome
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A couple of homologous chromosomes, or homologs, are a set of one maternal and one paternal chromosome that pair up with each other inside a cell during meiosis. Homologs have the genes in the same loci where they provide points along each chromosome which enable a pair of chromosomes to align correctly with each other before separating during meiosis. This is the basis for Mendelian inheritance which characterizes inheritance patterns of material from an organism to its offspring parent developmental cell at the given time. Chromosomes are linear arrangements of condensed deoxyribonucleic acid and histone proteins, homologous chromosomes are made up of chromosome pairs of approximately the same length, centromere position, and staining pattern, for genes with the same corresponding loci. One homologous chromosome is inherited from the mother, the other is inherited from the organisms father. After mitosis occurs within the cells, they have the correct number of genes which are a mix of the two parents genes. In diploid organisms, the genome is composed of one set of homologous chromosome pair. The alleles on the homologous chromosomes may be different, resulting in different phenotypes of the same genes, early in the 1900s William Bateson and Reginald Punnett were studying genetic inheritance and they noted that some combinations of alleles appeared more frequently than others. That data and information was further explored by Thomas Morgan, using test cross experiments, he revealed that, for a single parent, the alleles of genes near to one another along the length of the chromosome move together. Using this logic he concluded that the two genes he was studying were located on homologous chromosomes, later on during the 1930s Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock were studying meiosis in corn cells and examining gene loci on corn chromosomes. Creighton and McClintock discovered that the new allele combinations present in the offspring, homologous chromosomes are chromosomes which contain the same genes in the same order along their chromosomal arms. Centromere placement can be characterized by four main arrangements, consisting of being either metacentric, submetacentric, telocentric, both of these properties are the main factors for creating structural homology between chromosomes. Therefore, when two chromosomes of the structure exist, they are able to pair together to form homologous chromosomes. Since homologous chromosomes are not identical and do not originate from the same organism, sister chromatids result after DNA replication has occurred, and thus are identical, side-by-side duplicates of each other. Humans have a total of 46 chromosomes, but there are only 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes. The additional 23rd pair is the sex chromosomes, X and Y, if this pair is made up of an X and Y chromosome, then the pair of chromosomes is not homologous because their size and gene content differ greatly. The 22 pairs of homologous chromosomes contain the same genes but code for different traits in their allelic forms since one was inherited from the mother, so humans have two homologous chromosome sets in each cell, meaning humans are diploid organisms. Homologous chromosomes are important in the processes of meiosis and mitosis and they allow for the recombination and random segregation of genetic material from the mother and father into new cells
38.
Chromosomal crossover
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Chromosomal crossover is the exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes that results in recombinant chromosomes during sexual reproduction. It is one of the phases of genetic recombination, which occurs in the pachytene stage of prophase I of meiosis during a process called synapsis. Synapsis begins before the synaptonemal complex develops and is not completed until near the end of prophase I, crossover usually occurs when matching regions on matching chromosomes break and then reconnect to the other chromosome. Crossing over was described, in theory, by Thomas Hunt Morgan and he relied on the discovery of the Belgian Professor Frans Alfons Janssens of the University of Leuven who described the phenomenon in 1909 and had called it chiasmatypie. The term chiasma is linked if not identical to chromosomal crossover, Morgan immediately saw the great importance of Janssens cytological interpretation of chiasmata to the experimental results of his research on the heredity of Drosophila. The physical basis of crossing over was first demonstrated by Harriet Creighton, the linked frequency of crossing over between two gene loci is the crossing-over value. There are two popular and overlapping theories explaining the origins of crossing-over, coming from the different theories on the origin of meiosis. The first theory rests upon the idea that meiosis evolved as another method of DNA repair, the second theory comes from the idea that meiosis evolved from bacterial transformation, with the function of propagating diversity. Crossing over and DNA repair are very similar processes, which many of the same protein complexes. Recombinases and primases lay a foundation of nucleotides along the DNA sequence, one such particular protein complex that is conserved between processes is RAD51, a well conserved recombinase protein that has been shown to be crucial in DNA repair as well as cross over. Several other genes in D. melanogaster have been linked as well to both processes, by showing that mutants at these specific loci cannot undergo DNA repair or crossing over, such genes include mei-41, mei-9, hdm, spnA, and brca2. This large group of conserved genes between processes supports the theory of an evolutionary relationship. Furthermore, DNA repair and crossover have been found to favor similar regions on chromosomes, in an experiment using radiation hybrid mapping on wheat’s 3B chromosome, crossing over and DNA repair were found to occur predominantly in the same regions. Bacterial transformation itself has been linked to DNA repair many times, the second theory comes from the idea that meiosis evolved from bacterial transformation, with the function of propagating genetic diversity. Thus, this suggests that it is a question of whether cross over is linked to DNA repair or bacterial transformation. It is likely that crossing over may have evolved from bacterial transformation, meiotic recombination may be initiated by double-stranded breaks that are introduced into the DNA by exposure to DNA damaging agents or the Spo11 protein. One or more exonucleases then digest the 5’ ends generated by the double-stranded breaks to produce 3’ single-stranded DNA tails, the meiosis-specific recombinase Dmc1 and the general recombinase Rad51 coat the single-stranded DNA to form nucleoprotein filaments. The recombinases catalyze invasion of the opposite chromatid by the single-stranded DNA from one end of the break, the structure that results is a cross-strand exchange, also known as a Holliday junction
39.
Walter Sutton
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This is now known as the Boveri-Sutton chromosome theory. Sutton was born in Utica, New York, and was raised on a farm as the fifth of seven sons to Judge William B. Sutton and his wife, Agnes Black Sutton, in Russell, Kansas. On the farm, he developed a mechanical aptitude by maintaining and repairing farm equipment, after graduating high school in Russell, he enrolled at the University of Kansas in engineering in 1896. Following the death of his brother from typhus in 1897. While at the University of Kansas, both he and his brother, William Sutton, played basketball for Dr. James Naismith. Sutton distinguished himself as student being elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi and receiving both bachelors and masters degrees by 1901, for his Masters thesis, he studied the spermatogenesis of Brachystola magna, a large grasshopper indigenous to the farmlands upon which Sutton was raised. Considering the advice of his mentor at KU, Dr. C. E. McClung and it was here that Sutton wrote his two significant works in genetics – “On the morphology of the chromosome group in Brachystola magna” and “The chromosomes in heredity”. Effectively, Sutton could now explain “why the yellow dog is yellow”, the German biologist Theodor Boveri independently reached the same conclusions as Sutton, and their concepts are often referred to as the Boveri-Sutton chromosome theory. Sutton’s hypothesis was accepted by most scientists, particularly cytologists. Sutton did not complete his PhD in Zoology as he originally planned, at the age of 26, he returned to the Kansas oil fields for 2 years. There he was able to perfect a device to start large gas engines with high pressure-gas, Sutton’s mechanical aptitudes never left him. His father finally directed him to return to his medical studies, Sutton’s medical studies proceeded through the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. While he continued to work on patents associated with oil drilling, with credit for his graduate studies at both the University of Kansas and Columbia University, Sutton obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1907 graduating with “high standing”. He then began an internship at Roosevelt Hospital in New York working in the division headed by Dr. Joseph Blake. In addition to his duties at Roosevelt Hospital, Sutton was also able to work with the Surgical Research Laboratory at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. With that support, he was able to begin developing and improving a variety of medical and surgical practices including improving anesthetic techniques, in 1909, Sutton returned to Kansas City, Kansas where his family had relocated and his father and brother were in law practice. Sutton was appointed assistant professor of surgery at the four-year-old University of Kansas Medical School, for six years, Sutton performed a wide range of surgeries carefully documenting the procedures. He published several articles related to these cases going back to his internship at Roosevelt, in 1911, he had accepted a commission as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army Medical reserve Corps
40.
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
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The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The Academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam, the Academy advises the Dutch government on scientific matters. The Academy offers solicited and unsolicited advice to parliament, ministries, universities and research institutes, funding agencies, nominations for candidate membership by persons or organizations outside the Academy are accepted. The acceptance criterion is delivered scientific achievements, Academy membership is therefore regarded as a great honor, and prestigious. Besides regular members, there are members and corresponding members. Since a new system was introduced in 2011 there will be no new corresponding members. Each year a maximum of sixteen members is appointed to the Academy, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has long embraced the entire field of learning. The Royal Academy comprises two departments, consisting of around 500 members, Science Humanities and Social Sciences Both departments have their own board, the departments, in turn, are divided into sections. The highest organ in the Academy is the meeting of members. The president was Frits van Oostrom until 1 May 2008, after which he was succeeded by Robbert Dijkgraaf, in March 2012, Hans Clevers was elected president and took office in June 2012. In 2015 he was succeeded by José van Dijck, during the French occupation of the Dutch Republic, it was founded as the Koninklijk Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten by Lodewijk Napoleon on May 4,1808. In 1816, after the occupation had ended, it was renamed to Koninklijk-Nederlandsch Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schoone Kunsten, in 1851 it was disbanded and re-established as the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen and in 1938 obtained its present name. Since 1812 the Academy has resided in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam, the institute was awarded the Gouden Ganzenveer in 1955. De Jonge Akademie is a society of younger researchers, founded in 2005 as part of the KNAW. Ten members are elected each year for a term of five years, members are scientists between 25 and 45 years old and are selected for a record of excellence in their research. It was modelled after the similar German Junge Akademie, and both of these academies in turn were used as models for the Global Young Academy, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, official website
41.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Every year the Academy awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Crafoord Prize, the Academy has elected about 1.700 Swedish and 1.200 foreign members since it was founded in 1739. Hansson, appointed from 1 July 2015 The transactions of the Academy were published as its main series between 1739 and 1974, in parallel, other major series have appeared and gone, Öfversigt af Kungl. These lasted into the 1860s, when they were replaced by the single Bihang series, further restructuring of their topics occurred in 1949 and 1974. The purpose of the academy was to focus on practically useful knowledge, the academy was intended to be different from the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala, which had been founded in 1719 and published in Latin. The location close to the activities in Swedens capital was also intentional. The academy was modeled after the Royal Society of London and Academie Royale des Sciences in Paris, France, members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Official website Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences video site
42.
Darwin Medal
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First awarded in 1890, it was created in memory of Charles Darwin and is presented with a £2000 prize. The medal was first awarded to Alfred Russel Wallace, a noted biologist and naturalist who had developed the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
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