Editing Matthias Jakob Schleiden

{{short description|German botanist}}
{{redirect|Schleid.|the municipality in Germany|Schleid}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Matthias Jakob Schleiden
|image             = PSM V22 D156 Matthias Jacob Schleiden.jpg
|image_size        = 
|caption           = Matthias Jakob
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=y|1804|04|05|}}
|birth_place       = [[Hamburg]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|death_date        = {{Death date and age|1881|06|23|1804|04|05|df=y}}
|death_place       = [[Frankfurt am Main]], [[German Empire]]
|residence         = 
|citizenship       = 
|nationality       = German
|ethnicity         = 
|work_institutions = [[University of Jena]], [[University of Tartu|University of Dorpat]]
|alma_mater        = [[Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]]
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Cell theory]]<br>Coining the term '[[cytoblast]]'
|author_abbrev_bot = Schleid.
|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        =
|influenced        = 
|prizes            =
|footnotes         = 
|signature         = 
}}
'''Matthias Jakob Schleiden''' ({{IPA|de|maˈtiːas ˈjaːkɔp ˈʃlaɪdn̩|lang}};<ref>{{cite book|author1=Dudenredaktion|last2=Kleiner|first2=Stefan|last3=Knöbl|first3=Ralf|year=2015|orig-year=First published 1962|title=Das Aussprachewörterbuch|trans-title=The Pronunciation Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6vWCgAAQBAJ|language=de|edition=7th|location=Berlin|publisher=Dudenverlag|isbn=978-3-411-04067-4|pages=481, 587, 764}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-1tr_oVkW4C&q=deutsches+ausspracheworterbuch|title=Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch|last1=Krech|first1=Eva-Maria|last2=Stock|first2=Eberhard|last3=Hirschfeld|first3=Ursula|last4=Anders|first4=Lutz-Christian|date=2009-12-23|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110215564|language=de|access-date=2020-10-20|archive-date=2023-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722062339/https://books.google.com/books?id=E-1tr_oVkW4C&q=deutsches+ausspracheworterbuch|url-status=live}}</ref> 5 April 1804 – 23 June 1881) was a German [[Botany|botanist]] and co-founder of [[cell theory]], along with [[Theodor Schwann]] and [[Rudolf Virchow]]. He published some poems and non-scientific work under the pseudonym '''Ernst'''.<ref name=":0" /> 

== Career==
Matthias Jakob Schleiden was born in Hamburg. on 5 April 1804. His father was the municipal physician of Hamburg. Schleiden pursued legal studies 
<!-- variously stated, needs source: at the [[University of Heidelberg]] or [[University of Jena]] --> 
graduating in 1827. He then established a legal practice 
<!-- variously in [[Hamburg]] or  [[Heidelberg]] -->
but after a period of emotional depression and attempted suicide, he changed professions. The suicide attempt left a prominent scar across his forehead.<ref name="Mukherjee_song">{{cite book |last1=Mukherjee |first1=Siddhartha |title=The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human |date=2022 |publisher=Scribner |location=USA |isbn=9781982117351 |page= |edition=1 |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Song-of-the-Cell/Siddhartha-Mukherjee/9781982117351 |access-date=2023-01-25 |archive-date=2023-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130232518/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Song-of-the-Cell/Siddhartha-Mukherjee/9781982117351 |url-status=live }}</ref>

He studied natural science at the [[University of Göttingen]] in Göttingen, Germany, but transferred to the [[University of Berlin]] in 1835 to study plants. [[Johann Horkel]], Schleiden's uncle, encouraged him to study plant embryology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/matthias-jacob-schleiden-1804-1881|title=Matthias Jacob Schleiden (1804–1881) {{!}} The Embryo Project Encyclopedia|website=embryo.asu.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-10-16|archive-date=2018-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017001941/https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/matthias-jacob-schleiden-1804-1881|url-status=live}}</ref> 

He soon developed his love for botany and cats into a full-time pursuit. Schleiden preferred to study plant structure under the [[microscope]]. As a professor of botany at the University of Jena, he wrote ''Contributions to our Knowledge of Phytogenesis'' (1838), in which he stated that all plants are composed of cells. Thus, Schleiden and Schwann became the first to formulate what was then an informal belief as a principle of biology equal in importance to the atomic theory of chemistry. He also recognized the importance of the [[cell nucleus]], discovered in 1831 by the Scottish botanist [[Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose)|Robert Brown]],<ref>{{cite web|author=Trisha Creekmore |title=The Science Channel :: 100 Greatest Discoveries: Biology |publisher=[[Discovery Communications]] |url=http://science.discovery.com/convergence/100discoveries/big100/biology.html |access-date=2006-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024155730/http://science.discovery.com/convergence/100discoveries/big100/biology.html |archive-date=2006-10-24 }}</ref> and sensed its connection with [[cell division]]. In 1838, the two scientists M. J. Schleiden and Theodore Schwann formulated a theory about cellular structure which stated, 'All the living organisms are made up of cells and the cell is the fundamental component of living organismus”. In 1885 Rudolf Virchow stated that all cells are formed from pre-existing cells.

Although Schleiden was not [[Jewish]] nor a historian by profession, he was noted for his defense of Judaism and against antisemitism, and wrote two works, ''Die Bedeutung der Juden für die Erhaltung und Wiederbelebung der Wissenschaften im Mittelalter'' (1877) and ''Die Romantik des Martyriums bei den Juden im Mittelalter'' (1878), published in English as ''The Sciences among the Jews Before and During the Middle Ages'' and  ''The Importance of the Jews for the Preservation and Revival of Learning during the Middle Ages''. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Charpa |first=Ulrich |date=2003 |title=Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804-1881): The History of Jewish Interest in Science and the Methodology of Microscopic Botany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40385773 |journal=Aleph |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=213–245 |doi=10.2979/ALE.2003.-.3.213 |jstor=40385773 |issn=1565-1525}}</ref>

He became a professor of botany at the [[University of Tartu|University of Dorpat]] in 1863. He concluded that all plant parts are made of cells and that an [[Embryo#Plant_embryos|embryonic plant organism]] arises from one cell.

He died in [[Frankfurt am Main]] on 23 June 1881.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/527571/Mathias-Jacob-Schleiden Mathias Jacob Schleiden] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203221256/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/527571/Mathias-Jacob-Schleiden |date=2014-02-03 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica</ref> 

[[File:Schleiden-meduse.jpg|thumb|250px|''Die Entwickelung der Meduse'' ("The Development of the Medusæ"), in Schleiden's ''Das Meer'']]

==Evolution==

Schleiden was an early advocate of [[evolution]]. In a lecture on the "History of the Vegetable World" published in his book ''Die Pflanze und ihr Leben'' ("The Plant: A Biography") (1848) was a passage that embraced the [[transmutation of species]].<ref>[https://plantmorphology.org/portfolio-item/m-j-schleiden/ "Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804-1881)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929233355/https://plantmorphology.org/portfolio-item/m-j-schleiden/ |date=2018-09-29 }}. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.</ref> He was one of the first German biologists to accept [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of evolution. He has been described as a leading proponent of [[Darwinism]] in Germany.<ref>Glick, Thomas F. (1988). ''The Comparative Reception of Darwinism''. University of Chicago Press. p. 83. {{ISBN|0-226-29977-5}}</ref>

With ''Die Pflanze und ihr Leben'', reprinted six times by 1864,  and his ''Studien: Populäre Vorträge'' ("Studies: Popular Lectures"), both written in a way that was accessible to lay readers, Schleiden contributed to creating a momentum for popularizing science in Germany.<ref>[[Andreas Daum|Andreas W. Daum]], ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, pp. 252, 256, 262, 288, 509.</ref>

Schleiden’s popular writings included two volumes of poetry which appeared under the pseudonym “Ernst” in 1858 and 1873.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Charpa |first=Ulrich |date=2003 |title=Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1804-1881): The History of Jewish Interest in Science and the Methodology of Microscopic Botany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40385773 |journal=Aleph |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=213–245 |doi=10.2979/ALE.2003.-.3.213 |jstor=40385773 |s2cid=170356329 |issn=1565-1525 |access-date=2023-05-13 |archive-date=2023-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513182759/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40385773 |url-status=live }}</ref> American composer [[Harriet P. Sawyer]] set one of his poems to music with her song “Die ersten Tropfen fallen.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harriet Priscilla Sawyer Song Texts {{!}} LiederNet |url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=5634 |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=www.lieder.net |archive-date=2022-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928152550/https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=5634 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Selected publications==
[[File:Schleiden, Matthias Jakob – Alter des Menschengeschlechts, die Entstehung der Arten und die Stellung des Menschen in der Natur, 1863 – BEIC 12416743.jpg|thumb|''Alter des Menschengeschlechts, die Entstehung der Arten und die Stellung des Menschen in der Natur, 1863'']]
* [[iarchive:b30379805/page/n3|''On the Development of the Organization in Phaenogamous Plants'']] (1838)

* [[iarchive:plantbiographyin00schlrich/page/n7|''The Plant, a Biography'']] (1848) [translated by [[Arthur Henfrey (botanist)|Arthur Henfrey]]]
{{botanist|Schleid.|Scleiden, Matthias Jakob}}

* {{Cite book|title=Encyclopädie der gesammten theoretischen Naturwissenschaften in ihrer Anwendung auf die Landwirthschaft|volume=|publisher=Vieweg und Sohn|location=Braunschweig|year=1850|language=de|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11809033}}
* {{Cite book|title=Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen Botanik nebst einer methodologischen Einleitung als Anleitung zum Studium der Pflanze|volume=|publisher=Wilhelm Engelmann|location=Leipzig|year=1861|language=de|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11849119}}
* {{Cite book|title=Alter des Menschengeschlechts, die Entstehung der Arten und die Stellung des Menschen in der Natur|volume=|publisher=Wilhelm Engelmann|location=Leipzig|year=1863|language=de|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12416743}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

* [http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/people/data?id=per134 Short biography and bibliography] in the [[Virtual Laboratory]] of the [[Max Planck Institute for the History of Science]]
* Schwann, Theodor and Schleyden, M. J., [http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/library/data/lit28715? Microscopical researches into the accordance in the structure and growth of animals and plants.] London: Printed for the Sydenham Society, 1847.
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Schleiden, Matthias Jakob|volume= 24 | page = 330 |short= 1}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle= Schleiden, Matthias Jakob |short=1}}
* {{de-ADB|31|417|421|Schleiden, Matthias Jacob|Ernst Wunschmann|}}
* {{IPNI|query=Schleid.|title=Matthias Jakob Schleiden|accessdate=February 18, 2009}}

{{commons category|Matthias Jacob Schleiden}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schleiden, Matthias Jakob}}

[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1881 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century German botanists]]
[[Category:Heidelberg University alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Hamburg]]
[[Category:Proto-evolutionary biologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Jena]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tartu]]