Birth of Scientific Ecology Eugenius Warming (1841-1924)

About this book

This book presents a biography of the Danish botanist Eugen Warming. As the author of a treatise on ecology that brought him international recognition, he was able to inspire the first generation of 20th-century European and American ecologists. His innovative approach to nature and his Arctic and tropical missions heralded the birth of a new science and an ecological awareness. As a professor at several Scandinavian universities during a period of intense debate and controversy over evolutionary theories, Eugen Warming vigorously asserted his convictions.

Birth of Scientific Ecology presents the image of a man of knowledge and power, recognised by his contemporaries as a founder of ecology and a player in the ecological project of the Kingdom of Denmark at a time when the empires were clashing.

Contents

Foreword   xi
Acknowledgments   xv
Introduction   xvii

Part 1: From Mando to Lagoa Santa   1
Chapter 1. Eugenius' Birthplace   3
Chapter 2. Jutland: At the Roots of a Passion   11
Chapter 3. An Interrupted University Course   21
Chapter 4. From Rio to Lagoa Santa: A New World   27

Part 2: Good Times and Bad   65
Chapter 5. Outstanding Doctoral Studies   67
Chapter 6. Intense Activity, a Detour via Stockholm   75
Chapter 7. Back to Copenhagen   85

Part 3: New Latitudes   95
Chapter 8. Arctic and Tropical Missions   97
Chapter 9. Eugenius' Arctic Botanical Geography   107
Chapter 10. The Long-Term Tropics   119

Part 4: Professor Warming's Ecology   131
Chapter 11. 1895 - 1896: Ecological Botanical Geography   133
Chapter 12. Authorized Editions, or Not...   147
Chapter 13. 1909: Oecology of Plants in the Storm   153
Chapter 14. Limits and Potentials   167
Chapter 15. Warming's Ecology and Evolutionary Theories   191

Part 5: The Ubiquitous Professor Warming   223
Chapter 16. The Institutionalization of Ecology   225
Chapter 17. The Man of Knowledge and Power   241
Chapter 18. The Protagonist of the Danish Ecological Project   253

General Conclusion   275
References   279
Index of Names   305
Index of Terms   313

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Biography

Patrick Matagne holds a doctorate in Epistemology and the History of Science from the University of Paris VII, France. He was a lecturer at the University of Poitiers, France, until 2020.