August Joseph Corda (1809–49)

Bohemian botanist and palaeontologist. Attended, sporadically, a gymnasium in Prague; apprenticed in a pharmaceutical supply business. Attended university lectures in botany but was also self-taught. Contributed on fungi to Flora Deutschlands in 1829. Focused on the microscopic study of cryptogams and published a monograph on fungi in 1830. Travelled in Germany from 1832, and in 1834, having met Alexander von Humboldt, moved to Berlin, where he pursued microscopical work on fertilisation in cryptogams. Curator, National Museum, Prague, 1835. Travelled to Texas on a collecting trip in 1848; on his return voyage in 1849, his ship sank.