Schenk, August, 1815-1891

Joseph August Schenk (17 April 1815, in Hallein – 30 March 1891, in Leipzig) was an Austrian-born, German botanist and paleobotanist. In 1837 he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Munich, followed by studies in botany at the Universities of Erlangen, Berlin and Vienna. In 1840 he earned his PhD in botany at Munich and during the following year, received his habilitation for botany with the dissertation "Genera et species Cyperacearum, quae in regno Graeco, archipelago et in insulis". From 1850 to 1868, he was a full professor of botany at the University of Würzburg, followed by a professorship at the University of Leipzig (1868 to 1887), where he was a successor to Georg Heinrich Mettenius. At Leipzig, he was also director of its botanical gardens. The genus Schenkia (family Gentianaceae) was named in honor by August Grisebach in 1853.