Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli

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Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli

1817-1891

Swiss botanist who studied plant cells. Nägeli identified structures later to be called chromosomes. He observed cell division and osmosis in algae. Nägeli introduced the idea of a group of plant cells, the meristem, always capable of division. He and Hugo von Mohl distinguished the wall of a plant cell from the interior. Nägeli unfortunately rejected a paper sent to him by Gregor Mendel that would later become the material for Mendel's laws of inheritance.

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