This book presents a biography of the Danish botanist Eugen Warming. As the author of a treatise on ecology that brought him international recognition, he was able to inspire the first generation of 20th-century European and American ecologists.
His innovative approach to nature and his Arctic and tropical missions heralded the birth of a new science and an ecological awareness.
As a professor at several Scandinavian universities during a period of intense debate and controversy over evolutionary theories, Eugen Warming vigorously asserted his convictions. Birth of Scientific Ecology presents the image of a man of knowledge and power, recognized by his contemporaries as a founder of ecology and a player in the ecological project of the Kingdom of Denmark at a time when the empires were clashing.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
Part 1 From Mando to Lagoa Santa 1
Chapter 1 Eugenius' Birthplace 3
Chapter 2 Jutland: At the Roots of a Passion 11
Chapter 3 An Interrupted University Course 21
Chapter 4 From Rio to Lagoa Santa: A New World 27
Part 2 Good Times and Bad 65
Chapter 5 Outstanding Doctoral Studies 67
Chapter 6 Intense Activity, a Detour via Stockholm 75
Chapter 7 Back to Copenhagen 85
Part 3. New Latitudes 95
Chapter 8 Arctic and Tropical Missions 97
Chapter 9 Eugenius' Arctic Botanical Geography 107
Chapter 10 The Long-Term Tropics 119
Part 4. Professor Warming's Ecology 131
Chapter 11 1895 - 1896: Ecological Botanical Geography 133
Chapter 12 Authorized Editions, or Not… 147
Chapter 13 1909: Oecology of Plants in the Storm 153
Chapter 14 Limits and Potentials 167
Chapter 15 Warming's Ecology and Evolutionary Theories 191
Part 5 The Ubiquitous Professor Warming 223
Chapter 16 The Institutionalization of Ecology 225
Chapter 17 The Man of Knowledge and Power 241
Chapter 18 The Protagonist of the Danish Ecological Project 253
General Conclusion 275
References 279
Index of Names 305
Index of Terms 313
