Leo Lesquereux

Charles Léo Lesquereux (November 18, 1806 – October 25, 1889) was a Swiss bryologist and a pioneer of American paleobotany. He was born in the town of Fleurier, located in the canton of Neuchâtel.

Despite the fact Lesquereux lacked formal training in botany, he became a celebrated and much published figure in the field of paleobotany. Until 1827 he took classes at the academy at Neuchâtel, and subsequently worked as a tutor of French language in Eisenach, Germany. Afterwards he returned to Switzerland as a schoolteacher, and later principal at the College of La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1833 he suffered a total loss of hearing due to the maltreatment of a French Otologist and resigned his position.

As a young man he took many excursions in order to collect mosses in the Jura Mountains, eventually leading to investigations of peat bogs. His pioneer research and analysis on the origin, composition and development of peat resulted in a close friendship with famed scientist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873). Soon afterwards, Lesquereux was commissioned by the Prussian government to perform scientific studies of peat bogs throughout Europe.