science

John Gossweiler

John Gossweiler is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Gossweiler rather than just read about it. In short: Johannes Gossweiler (24 December 1873, in Regensdorf – 19 February 1952, in Lisbon) aka John Gossweiler or João Gossweiler, was state botanist to the Government of Angola from 1899 until his death. He made important collections in every district of Angola and created the first phytogeographic map of that country.

Key takeaways

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Reproduce the core statement of John Gossweiler from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Johannes Gossweiler (24 December 1873, in Regensdorf – 19 February 1952, in Lisbon) aka John Gossweiler or João Gossweiler, was state botanist to the Government of Angola from 1899 until his death. He made important collections in every district of Angola and created the first phytogeographic map of that country. His collections of African plant specimens were sent regularly to Lisbon (Jardim Colonial and Jardim Botânico da Universidade), the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of Coimbra. Duplicates were also kept at the Herbarium of the Instituto de Investigação Agronómica in Angola. Today, many herbaria contain specimens he collected (see #Collections in herbaria).

Biography Gossweiler studied horticulture in Zurich, Stuttgart and Dresden, later spending four years in London at the Royal College of Science in South Kensington, and 1897-98 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He was inspired by William Turner Thiselton-Dyer while at Kew, and went on to work for the government of Angola in the country's botanical garden in Luanda, where he remained until his death in 1952. Arriving in Angola, Gossweiler found the garden far from complete, and started collecting in the coastal area around Luanda and the Malanje Plateau. In 1905 he studied the indigenous plant sources of rubber of the Cuando-Cubango and Bié Plateau regions and collected many novel plants along the Okavango River.

The 'Cazengo Colonial Garden', the botanical garden of which Gossweiler would be director, was finally ready by 1907. Located on the site of an abandoned plantation, Gossweiler stocked it with indigenous species and plants from Sri Lanka, Goa, Malaysia and Tropical America. His collection of pressed specimens steadily grew. In 1915/16 he worked in Subliali, Pango Munga, the rainforest region of Mayombe, and near the source of the Zanza River, where he was accompanied by his wife Martha. Following World War I Gossweiler worked for the 'Fomento Geral de Angola' from 1919 to 1926, during which time he made substantial collections along the southern bank of the Congo River, in the Dembos region and at Quiçama. In 1927 Gossweiler rejoined the government service and worked at starting an experimental cotton station in Catete, travelling to Amboim in 1932 to investigate coffee plant diseases. His collections grew with plants from the mist forest south of Cazengo. He then spent some time in Portugal at the University of Coimbra and the Colonial Garden in Lisbon, working on his collections. Gossweiler embarked on two more collecting expeditions in Angola. In 1937-8 he joined a pair of Portuguese botanists, Luis Carrisso and F.A. Mendonça of Coimbra University, and Arthur Wallis Exell of the British Museum, on an extensive expedition covering some 13,000 km. On this expedition Carrisso suffered a fatal heart attack. Despite his death, work carried on, the results adding considerably to the 'Conspectus Florae Angolensis' of which the first volume, consisting of 55 parts, was published between 1937 and 1951. The other expedition was in 1947 when he collected in the forests of Dundo in the far north-east of Angola. Gossweiler's collections amounted to some 14,000 specimens, and are housed at some of the world's important herbaria. "J. Gossweiler 14685 (BM)", a specimen of Anticharis aschersoniana, may be the last he collected (July 1950) that is preserved. In 1936 Gossweiler's services were recognised by the Portuguese government, which awarded him the 'Comenda da Ordem do Imperio Colonial'. In 1950 he was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London for his contributions to systematic botany. Gossweiler died 1952 in Lisbon. In 1960, the Portuguese government granted his widow Marthe Gossweiler a life pension in recognition of his service to the country and for ceding his works to the country. A statue of Gossweiler is located in the park next to the regional museum of Dundo. Two portraits of him were published in the 1950s.

Collections in herbaria Specimens Gossweiler collected can be found in the following herbaria:

The table includes the number of specimen viewable online, either directly or through JSTOR.

Publications Gossweiler, John (1918). Contribuição para o estudo da flora do Maiombe português: apontamentos sôbre algumas madeiras comerciais (in Portuguese). Luanda: Imprensa nacional de Angola. Gossweiler, John; Arthur Wallis Exell; Ronald Good; Spencer Le Marchant Moore; S. Greves; Edmund Gilbert Baker (1926). Mr. John Gossweiler's Plants from Angola and Portuguese Congo. London: R. Hardwicke. Alston, Arthur Hugh Garfit (1934). Mr. John Gossweiler's Plants from Angola and Portuguese Congo: Pteridophyta. Gossweiler, John; Mendonça, F.A. (1939). Carta fitogeográfica de Angola : Memória descritiva dos principais tipos de vegetação da colónia determinados pelos seus aspectos fisiográficos e caracteres ecológicos segundo a nomenclatura de Rübel (in Portuguese). Ed. do Government Geral de Angola. Gossweiler, John (1950). Flora exótica de Angola: nomes vulgares e origem das plantas cultivadas ou sub-espontâneas (in Portuguese). Luanda: Imprensa nacional. Gossweiler, John (1953). Nomes indígenas de plantas de Angola (in Portuguese). Luanda: Impr. Nacional. Archive materials are held by:

University of Coimbra: A few of his letters are available online in the digital library of the University of Coimbra Federal Archives of Switzerland Natural History Museum Archives, London

Eponymy Gossweilera S.Moore Gossweilerochloa Gossweilerodendron Harms.

Honours Commander of the Order of the Colonial Empire, Portugal (28 October 1935)

Further reading Mendonça, F.A. (1952). "À memória de John Gossweiler 1873 - 1952: Homenagem da Sociedade Broteriana" (PDF). Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana (in Portuguese). II: 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-22. Fernandes, Abílio (1954). "John Gossweiler". Vegetatio. 4 (5): 334–335. doi:10.1007/bf00301801. S2CID 39497891. Exell, Arthur Wallis (1952). Letter and biographical note on John Gossweiler, 1873-1952. Martins, E.S. (1994). "John Gossweiler - Contribuição da sua obra para o conhecimento da flora angolana". Garcia de Orta, Série de Botânica (in Portuguese). 12 (1–2): 39–68. ISSN 0379-9506.

Notes and references

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Gossweiler

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Gossweiler claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Gossweiler before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Gossweiler ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Gossweiler

In research: John Gossweiler appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Gossweiler in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Gossweiler is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1873 births, 1952 deaths, 19th-century Swiss botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Gossweiler outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study John Gossweiler in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Gossweiler means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Gossweiler out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Gossweiler in simple terms?

Why does John Gossweiler matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Gossweiler?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Gossweiler.