Joseph Gaertner

Joseph Gaertner (March 12, 1732 – July 14, 1791) was a German botanist, best known for his work on seeds, De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum (1788-1792).

Biography

He was born in Calw, and studied in Göttingen under Albrecht von Haller. He was primarily a naturalist, but also worked at physics and zoology. He travelled extensively to visit other naturalists. He was professor of anatomy in Tübingen in 1760, and was appointed professor of botany at St Petersburg in 1768, but returned to Calw in 1770. Gaertner made back cross to convert one species into another. Back cross increases nuclear gene frequency His observations were 1. He noted dominance of characters 2. Equal contribution of male and female to the progeny 3. No variation in F1 4. Large variation in F2 and In F2 he also observed parental and intermediate types 5. Some of F2 plants had entirely new characters but he was unable to give possible explanation for observed data but which was brilliantly done by Mendel