Julius von Sachs' forgotten 1897-article: sexuality and gender in plants vs. humans

Abstract

One hundred and fifty years ago, Julius von Sachs' (1832-1897) monumental Lehrbuch der Botanik (Textbook of Botany) was published, which signified the origin of physiological botany and its integration with evolutionary biology. Sachs regarded the physiology of photoautotrophic organisms as a sub-discipline of botany, and introduced a Darwinian perspective into the emerging plant sciences. Here, we summarize Sachs' achievements and his description of sexuality with respect to the cellular basis of plant and animal biparental reproduction. We reproduce and analyze a forgotten paper (Gutachten) of Sachs dealing with Die Akademische Frau (The Academic Woman), published during the year of his death on the question concerning gender equality in humans. Finally, we summarize his endorsement of woman's rights to pursue academic studies in the natural sciences at the University level, and conclude that Sachs was a humanist as well as a great scientist.