science

Käthe Hoffmann

Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann rather than just read about it. In short: Johanna Emilie Katharina Elizabeth "Käthe" Hoffmann (1 August 1883 – 30 December 1960) was a German botanist who described many plant species in New Guinea and South East Asia including Annesijoa novoguineensis. She was a high school teacher at Breslau, German Empire, (now Wrocław, Poland) and made a significant contribution to botany.

Key takeaways

Käthe Hoffmann belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Käthe Hoffmann to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Käthe Hoffmann from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Johanna Emilie Katharina Elizabeth "Käthe" Hoffmann (1 August 1883 – 30 December 1960) was a German botanist who described many plant species in New Guinea and South East Asia including Annesijoa novoguineensis. She was a high school teacher at Breslau, German Empire, (now Wrocław, Poland) and made a significant contribution to botany. In one study, she was found to have co-authored or authored 354 land plant species, the sixth-highest number authored by any female scientist. As of May 2020, Plants of the World Online lists 439 accepted genera and species which include Käthe Hoffmann in the authority, in some capacity.

Life She was born on 1 August 1883 in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). While some sources give her year of death as 1931, this is impossible as she was the author of two papers published in Revista Sudamericana de Botánica in 1942, one of them being an obituary of Ferdinand Albin Pax. According to the 'Berlin, Germany, Deaths, 1874-1986' database at Ancestry.com, as well as a death notice in Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellshaft, issue of 27 March 1961, she died in Berlin on 30 December 1960.

Relationship to Käthe Rosenthal Another female botanist's name, Käthe Rosenthal, is associated with the University of Breslau in the early 20th century. Her name appears alongside those of Ferdinand Pax and Käthe Hoffmann in issue 68 of Adolf Engler's multivolume work Das Pflanzenreich. Pax and Hoffmann are listed as the authors of three sections on parts of the family Euphorbiaceae. Rosenthal is listed as the author of a section on the family Daphniphyllaceae. Earlier, in 1916, a PhD thesis with the author Käthe Rosenthal had been published under the title "Monographie der Gattung Daphniphyllum" ("Monograph of the genus Daphniphyllum"). The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) gives Rosenthal's author abbreviation as "K.Rosenth." with the year of birth 1893, i.e. 10 years after Hoffmann. Rosenthal's dissertation on Daphniphyllum contains a Lebenslauf or résumé in which she identifies herself as the daughter of Rabbi Ferdinand Rosenthal, PhD, and his wife, Amalie, née Kaufmann. She also thanks, among others, Frl. Käthe Hoffmann "for valuable advice in my work" ("für wertvolle Ratschläge bei meiner Arbeit"). Some sources treat the two as the same person. Thus the Bibliothèque nationale de France gives Käthe Hoffmann's year of birth as 1893, and states that "Käthe Rosenthal" is "autre forme du nom" ("another form of name"). Käthe Hoffmann may also be given as the author of the Daphniphyllum monograph instead of Käthe Rosenthal.

Selected publications

Das Pflanzenreich Between 1911 and 1924, Ferdinand Pax and Käthe Hoffmann contributed almost all the sections on the family Euphorbiaceae to Engler's monumental work, Das Pflanzenreich (The Plant Kingdom). (The first two sections on the family, published in 1910, were by Pax alone; one section published in 1915 has a different author.) Up to 1914, Hoffmann's name appeared on the title page as "unter Mitwirkung von Käthe Hoffmann" ('with the participation of'). From 1919 onwards, she was credited as the second author.

F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1911). "IV. 147. III Euphorbiaceae–Cluytieae". Heft (issue) 47. F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. IV Euphorbiaceae-Gelonieae". Heft 52. F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. V Euphorbiaceae-Hippomaneae". Heft 52. F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1912). "IV. 147. VI Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Chrozophorinae". Heft 57. F. Pax with the participation of Käthe Hoffmann (1914). "IV. 147. VII Euphorbiaceaee-Acalypheae-Mercurialinae". Heft 63. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. IX Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Plukenetiinae". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. X Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Epiprininae". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XI Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Ricininae". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XII Euphorbiaceae-Dalechampieae". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XIII Euphorbiaceae-Pereae". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1919). "IV. 147. XIV Euphorbiaceae-Aditamentum IV". Heft 68. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1922). "IV. 147. XV Euphorbiaceae-Phyllanthoideae-Phyllantheae". Heft 81. F. Pax & Käthe Hoffman (1924). "IV. 147. XVI Euphorbiaceae-Crotonoideae-Acalypheae-Acalyphinae". Heft 85.

Author abbreviation

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Käthe Hoffmann

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann

In research: Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann 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: Käthe Hoffmann is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1883 births, 1960 deaths, 20th-century German botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Käthe Hoffmann in simple terms?

Why does Käthe Hoffmann 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 Käthe Hoffmann?

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 Käthe Hoffmann.