Johan Wilhelm Heinrich Giess
Johan Wilhelm Heinrich Giess aka Willi Giess (21 February 1910, in
Giess arrived in
With the outbreak of the
As an ancillary activity Volk taught the students practical botany, assembling a herbarium from plants growing within the confines of the camp. The students also produced a booklet, a key to the genera of grasses, entitled "Bestimmungschlüssel für Südwest-Afrikanische Grasgattungen", illustrated with engravings on pieces of wood and typeset with lead from toothpaste tubes. Some of the type and engravings are on display at the Swakopmund Museum.
Immediately after his release, Giess was employed as plant collector at the
The nucleus of the new herbarium was a donation of 2 000 specimens from the initiator of the scheme, Prof Heinrich Walter of Hohenheim Technical University. Giess spent four years establishing the infrastructure of the herbarium, while continuing work on his farm. When the South West African Administration assumed management of the herbarium in 1957 they offered Giess the curatorship on a permanent basis, a post in which he served until his retirement in 1975.
Giess resumed work under M.A.N. Müller, his successor. During his association with the herbarium he collected some 18 750 meticulously labelled specimens which are housed at BM, K, LUA, M, NBG, P, PRE and WIND. His field trips ranged over most of Namibia, visiting remote regions such as the
Awards & honours
- 1968 Lineé Medal (silver) from the Royal Academy of Sciences
- 1980 Gold medal from the South African Academy of Sciences
- 1980 Recognised by the Bavarian Academy of Sciencesfor his contribution to Merxmüller's Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika
Giess is commemorated in the names of numerous plant species, a beetle and a termite. This botanist is denoted by the
Bibliography
- Grasse Van Suidwes Afrika/Namibie - ISBN 0-620-06582-6
- Bibliography of South West African Botany - W. Giess (S.W.A. Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, 1989) ISBN 0-949995-46-0
References
- ^ "BIOGRAPHIES OF NAMIBIAN PERSONALITIESin alphabetical order". www.klausdierks.com. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
- ^ Obituary[permanent dead link]
- ^ Aluka biography
- ISBN 1-84246-085-4.