Karl Heinrich Hermann (Hermann) Hoffmann (1819–91)

German botanist and physician. Studied medicine at Gießen and Berlin, 1837–41. MD, Gießen, 1841. Practised briefly in 1842; habilitated in medicine at Gießen, 1842. From 1843, began to lecture in physiological botany and left medicine in 1845. PhD in botany, Gießen, 1847; professor and director of the botanic garden, 1853. Worked on the systematics of fungi and was a pioneer in bacteriology. Also worked on variability, propagation, migration, and dissemination in plants.