Franz Xaver von Wulfen

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Baron Franz Xaver von Wulfen (born 5 November 1728 in Belgrade; died 16 March 1805 in Klagenfurt) was a botanist, mineralogist, alpinist, and Jesuit priest. He is credited with discovering Wulfenia carinthiaca and Wulfenite, a form of lead.

His father, Christian Friedrich von Wulfen, was a high-ranking lieutenant in the Austrian Army. Franz's education took place at Kaschau Gymnasium in present-day Košice, Slovakia. When he was 17, he joined a Jesuit school in Vienna and following his graduation he became a school instructor. By 1763 he was officially a priest.

To find specimens, Wulfen frequently hiked up the Großglockner. In 1781, he published his studies in the well-illustrated Plantae rariorum Carinthicae (Rare Plants of Carinthia).

A monument in Klagenfurt, erected in 1838, honors him, describing him as "equally great as priest, scholar and man". The genus "Wulfenia" was named in his honor.

Works

• Plantae rariores carinthiacae. V: Miscellanea austriaca ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem spectantia, vol. I (1778) str. 147-163 in vol. II (1781) str. 25-183
• Abhandlung vom Kärntner Bleispate, 1785
• Plantae rariores carinthiacae. V: Collectanea ad botanicam, chemiam et historiam naturalem, vol. I (1786) str. 186-364, vol. II (1788) str. 112-234, vol. III (1789) str. 3-166, vol. IV (1790) str. 227-348
• Descriptiones Quorumdam Capensium Insectorum, 1786
• Plantae rariores descriptae, 1803
• Cryptogama aquatica, 1803
• Flora Norica phanerogama, 1858