Henri van Heurck
{{Short description|Belgian botanist (1838–1909)}}
Henri Ferdinand van Heurck (August 28, 1838 – March 13, 1909) was a Belgian diatom specialist and microscopist. Born in an industrialist family, he taught himself microscopy and botany and wrote several pioneering works on diatoms, their study under the microscope and their preservation. He pioneered the use of electric lighting and its use in microphotography.
Life and work
File:Van_Heurck Microscope.png
Van Heurck was born in Antwerp to Ferdinand Van Heurck and Marie-Elisabeth Balus. The family owned a paint a varnish factory in the Gezondstraat which was founded in 1787 and known as “De krasfabriek” (The Chalk Factory). Van Heurck went to the Jesuit school in Aalst and continued at the Royal Athenaeum. He spent some time at the Sint-Ignatius Institute in Leuven where he was influenced by Father Vincent Gautier to study diatoms.{{Cite journal |last=Frison |first=Ed. |date=1957 |title=UN DIATOMISTE BELGE INCONNU: LE PÉRE VINCENT GAUTIER, S. J. (24 DECEMBRE 1827 — 4 FEVRIER 1903). SES RELATIONS AVEC, ET SON INFLUENCE SUR HENRI VAN HEURCK. CONTRIBUTION A L'HISTOIRE DE LA CRYPTOGAMIE EN BELGIQUE AU XIX e SIECLE |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20792266 |journal=Bulletin de la Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique / Bulletin van de Koninklijke Belgische Botanische Vereniging |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=29–48 |issn=0037-9557}} Financially well off, he spent his time studying diatoms under the microscope, teaching himself biology. He had an X-ray machine set up at home and collected herbal medicines from around the world. He collaborated with the plant breeder and seed producer J.I. De Beucker (1827-1906) and they founded the Antwerp herbalist society. In 1861 he published a flora of Brabant and then went to Bonn to study under professor Hermann Schacht. In 1862 he was co-founder of the Royal Society of Botany in Belgium. Van Heurck married the botanist Jeanne Collignon (1841-1922) in 1863 against the family wishes as she came from a less wealthy background. Between 1866 andf 1870 he cooperated with Arthur Martinis and edited the exsiccata Herbier des plantes rares ou critiques de Belgique.{{cite web |title=Herbier des plantes rares ou critiques de Belgique: IndExs ExsiccataID=611655296|website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=611655296 |access-date=19 June 2025}} From 1867 he taught chemistry at the Antwerp Nijverheidsschool. From 1877 he became director and professor at the Antwerp Botanic Garden. He published two diatom books between 1880 and 1900 - “Synopsis des diatomées de Belgique” (1880–1885) and “Traité des diatomées” (1896) which brought him acclaim. In 1881, his home was among the first to have electric lighting. He also helped develop microscopy and wrote “Le microscope” (1865) which went into several editions (a 4th in 1891) and he helped promote some design innovations in microscope manufacturing. He made use of electric lighting for his microscope set up and produced photographs of specimens. He collected diatoms by making trips on his flat-bottom yacht, the Nautilus. Together with Albert Grunow van Heurck published the exsiccata series Types du synopsis de Diatomees de Belgique par le Dr. Henri Van Heurck. Déterminations, notes et diagnoses par M. A. Grunow (1882-1885).{{cite web |title=Types du synopsis de Diatomees de Belgique par le Dr. Henri Van Heurck. Déterminations, notes et diagnoses par M. A. Grunow: IndExs ExsiccataID=84837888|website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=84837888 |access-date=19 June 2025}} His work contributed to a popularization of the study of diatoms and led to an interest in the documentation of the diatoms of the North Sea. This was achieved under the editorship of W. E. Baxter in 1896 with the publication of The Treatise on the Diatomaceae.{{Cite journal |last=van Heurck |first=Henri |last2=Toni |first2=J. B. De |date=1909 |title=Obituary |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2818.1909.tb00628.x |journal=Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society |language=en |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=555–557 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2818.1909.tb00628.x |issn=0368-3974|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Van de Vijver |first=Bart |date=2010 |title=‘Diatom Taxonomy in the 21st Century’ in honour of Henri Van Heurck (1838–1909) |url=https://plecevo.eu/article/32409/ |journal=Plant Ecology and Evolution |volume=143 |issue=3 |pages=249–250 |doi=10.5091/plecevo.2010.554|doi-access=free }}{{Cite web |title=Henri van Heurck |url=https://www.microscopie.be/kagm/henrivanheurck |website=Koninklijk Antwerps Genootschap voor Micrografie |publisher=Koninklijk Antwerps Genootschap voor Micrografie}}{{Cite journal |last=Chalon |first=J. |date=1909 |title=Henri van Heurck: Anvers, 28 août 1838. — 13 mars 1909 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20791097 |journal=Bulletin de la Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique / Bulletin van de Koninklijke Belgische Botanische Vereniging |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=250–278 |issn=0037-9557}}{{cite book |author=Heurck, Philippe van |url=https://sciencemuseum.ugent.be/assets/henri_van_heurck_biographie.pdf |title=Henri-Ferdinand van Heurck (1838-1909). Esquisse biographique |year=2008}}
Van Heurck was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1883. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Rostock in 1869. He collected diatom specimens, herbal medicines, rare books, antique microscopes, and also a herbarium which was donated to the city of Antwerp and is held at the botanic garden.{{cite web |author1=Bart Van de Vijver |author2=Christine Cocquyt |author3=Jan Rammeloo |title=The Van Heurck Collection: a phoenix rises from its ashes |url=http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmar15/Van%20Heurck%20meise%20small%20file.pdf |publisher=National Botanic Garden of Belgium}} In 1934, the city of Antwerp changed the name of the street where he lived from "Gezondstraat" to "Henri Van Heurckstraat".
{{botanist|Van Heurck}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://archive.org/details/treatiseondiatom00heur A treatise on the Diatomaceae] (1896)
- Synopsis des Diatomées de Belgique (1885)
- [https://archive.org/details/b2809041x Le microscope] (1869)
- [https://www.archive.org/details/microscopeitscon00heur The Microscope] (English translation by Baxter, 1893)
- [https://microscope-antiques.com/vhhx.html History of the Van Heurck microscope]
- [https://sciencemuseum.ugent.be/assets/bhvhleven1811.pdf Biography] (in Dutch)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heurck, Henri van}}