Hermann Müller

Who was Hermann Müller?

Heinrich Ludwig Hermann Müller was a German botanist who provided important evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution.

Müller was an early investigator of coevolution.ᵖ²⁷ He was the author in 1873 of Die Befruchtung der Blumen durch Insekten, a book translated at the suggestion of Darwin in 1883 as The fertilisation of flowers. He and Darwin corresponded—36 letters between the two, or from Darwin concerning Müller, are recorded. Darwin cited him extensively in The Descent of Man for his information relating to the behavior of bees.

Hermann was the brother of Fritz Müller,ᵖ²⁹ the German doctor who lived in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil and researched its natural history. Fritz Müller wrote the first book in support of Darwinian evolution in German,"Für Darwin"; he is also known as the discoverer of Müllerian mimicry. The work of both brothers was well known to Darwin.