Henry Potonié


Henry Potonié was a German botanist and paleobotanist, known for his studies of coal formation.
Potonié was born in Berlin. He studied botany at the University of Berlin, and from 1880 served as a research assistant in the botanical garden at Berlin. In 1885 he became associated with the Prussian Geological Survey, and from that time, devoted most of his time to paleobotanical research. In 1891 he was appointed professor of paleobotany at the Mining Academy in Berlin, then around 1901, became a professor of paleobotany and geology at the university.
He was founder of the Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift, a periodical that he was associated with for 24 years. He died in Berlin, aged 56.

Selected works

In 1899 he published the highly acclaimed Lehrbuch der Pflanzenpalaeontologie ; its second edition being published in 1921 by Walther Gothan with the title Lehrbuch der Paläobotanik. Potonié's other principal works include: