David Heinrich Hoppe

Who was David Heinrich Hoppe?

David Heinrich Hoppe was a German pharmacist, botanist and physician who was a native of Bruchhausen-Vilsen. Hoppe is remembered for contributions made to the study of alpine flora.

He began his career as a pharmacy apprentice in Celle, and subsequently was an assistant pharmacist in Hamburg, Halle, Wolfenbüttel and Regensburg. Afterwards, he studied medicine and natural sciences at the University of Erlangen, and following graduation returned to Regensburg as a physician. Here he taught classes at the Regensburg lyceum.

He studied the flora surrounding Regensburg, and each summer between 1796 and 1843 made botanical excursions to Salzburg and Heiligenblut. With bryologist Christian Friedrich Hornschuch, he published a treatise involving an extended scientific journey to the Adriatic coast and the mountains of Carinthia and Tyrol called Tagebuch einer Botanischen Reise nach den Küsten des Adriatischen Meeres und den Gebirgen von Kärnten, Tirol und Salzburg.

In May 1790, Hoppe founded the Regensburgische Botanische Gesellschaft, the first botanical organization in Bavaria, and presently is the world's oldest existing botanical society. From 1812 until his death in 1846 he was its director/chairman.