Martin Vahl

Martin Henrichsen Vahl
Born	October 10, 1749(1749-10-10) Bergen, Norway
Died	December 24, 1804(1804-12-24) (aged 55) Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish-Norwegian
Occupation	Botanist and zoologist

Martin Henrichsen Vahl (October 10, 1749 – December 24, 1804) was a Danish-Norwegian botanist and zoologist.

He studied botany in Copenhagen and in Uppsala under Carolus Linnaeus. He edited Flora Danica fasc. XVI-XXI (1787-1799), Symbolæ Botanicæ I-III (1790-1794), Eclogæ Americanæ I-IV (1796-1807) and Enumeratio Plantarum I-II (1804-1805). He lectured at the University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden from 1779 to 1782.

Vahl made several research trips in Europe and North Africa between 1783 and 1788. He became professor at the Society for Natural History in Copenhagen in 1786 and was a full professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen from 1801 to his death. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Vahl when citing a botanical name.

In 1792, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

His son Jens Vahl also became a botanist.

References

• Christensen, Carl (1932) Martin Vahl, pp. 85–88 in: Meisen, V. Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages. University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen.

External links

• Facsimile of Enumeratio plantarum, Hauniae, 1805-1806.