Ignaz Friedrich Tausch


Ignaz Friedrich Tausch was a Bohemian botanist.
He studied philosophy, medicine and natural sciences at the University of Prague, becoming an associate professor of economic and technical botany in 1815. He discovered at least eleven species of plants, including Rhizobotrya alpina and Saxifraga hostii. During his career he worked at the botanical garden of Emanuel Joseph Malabaila von Canal.
He was the taxonomic authority of many botanical species. Plants bearing the specific epithet of tauschii are named in his honor, e.g. Triticum tauschii. In 1825, Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal named the genus Tauschia, or umbrellaworts after him.

Biography

Tausch was born on January 29, 1793 in Bohemia to a master brewer, Josef Tauch, and Elizabeth Tausch. In his youth, Tausch visited a Piaristengymnasium, a higher educational institution, in the town of Schlackenwerth, sparking his curiosity in botany. From 1809 to 1812, he attended the Charles University in Prague, where he studied philosophy, medicine, and botany. From 1815 to 1826, he served as a professor of botany at the botanical garden of Emmanuel Canal at Prague. From 1821 to his death, he was a member of the Academy in Turin, and in 1843, became president of the Bohemian Horticultural Society. He died at Prague on September 8, 1848, at the age of 55.

Publications