thumb|Prof. Dr. Hermann Müller (Lippstadt)

Heinrich Ludwig Hermann Müller (23 September 1829 – 25 August 1883) was a German botanist. Between 1864 and 1867 he edited an exsiccata series distributing bryophyte specimens under the title Westfalens Laubmoose, gesammelt und herausgegeben von Dr. H. Müller in Lippstadt. "Müller-Lippstadt" provided important evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution.

Career

Müller was an early investigator of coevolution. He and Darwin corresponded; 36 letters between the two, or from Darwin concerning Müller, are recorded. Darwin cited him extensively in The Descent of Man for his information relating to the behavior of bees.

Hermann was the brother of Fritz Müller,<sup>p29</sup> the German doctor who lived in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil and researched its natural history. Fritz Müller wrote the first book in support of Darwinian evolution in German,"Für Darwin"; he is also known as the discoverer of Müllerian mimicry. The work of both brothers was well known to Darwin.

Selected publications

  • Die Befruchtung der Blumen (The Fertilisation of Flowers, 1883) [Translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson with a Preface by Charles Darwin]

References

Further reading

  • Andreas Daum, Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, , 2nd. edition (same page numbers) 2002, including a short biography.
  • Darwin's preface to the English translation of The Fertilisation of Flowers