Die Entdeckung der Chloroplastenwanderung in Vallisneria und andere Trouvaillen aus dem Nachlass von Gustav Senn (1875–1945)

Abstract

The detection of chloroplast migration and other treasures in the scientific legacy of Gustav Senn: In spring 2021 a collection of manuscripts and original scientific drawings from the young biologist Gustav Senn was deposited in the manuscript collection of the main library of the University of Basel. This material comprises, among others, the manuscripts of Senn’s presentation at his PhD thesis exam and of his lecture held at the colloquium of his habilitation, but also scientific illustrations, e.g. from Senn’s PhD thesis on colonial unicellular green algae, of his chapter on flagellates in Engler & Prantl’s «Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien» (Senn 1900), etc. Senn was an outstanding microscopist and excellent scientific illustrator. Particularly interesting are the very accurate drawings from the practical course in Botany held in 1895 by Prof. Georg Albrecht Klebs, where Senn, as a student aged 20, discovered the movement of chloroplasts in leaf cells of Vallisneria sp. Later, he thoroughly investigated this phenomenon and became world famous for this discovery.