Hans Winkler

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Professor Hans Winkler (23 April 1877 - 22 November 1945) was a German botanist. He was Professor of Botany at the University of Hamburg, and a director of that university's Institute of Botany.

He is remembered for coining the term 'genome' in 1920, by making a portmanteau of the words gene and chromosome.

On page 165, he wrote (in rough translation):

I propose the expression Genom for the haploid chromosome set, which, together with the pertinent protoplasm, specifies the material foundations of the species ....

Winkler also worked at the University of Naples, in Italy, where he researched the physiology of the algae Bryopsis.

[edit] References

  • Genome News Network glossary
  • Verbreitung und Ursache der Parthenogenesis im Pflanzen - und Tierreiche (Verlag Fischer, Jena)
  • Joshua Lederberg and Alexa T. McCray (2001). "'Ome Sweet 'Omics -- A Genealogical Treasury of Words". The Scientist 15 (7). 
An online copy is available here: [1]


The standard author abbreviation H.K.A.Winkl. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[1]
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