VRIES, Hugo de

(1848–1935)

   Biologist. De Vries studied botany at Leiden University and then did scientific research in Heidelberg and Wurzburg, Germany, on the influence of temperature on the per meability of the cells and protoplasm of plants. At the University of Halle in Germany, he wrote the thesis Untersuchungen uber die mechanischen Ursachen der Zellstreckung [Researches on the Mechanical Causes of the Stretching of Cells] in 1877. The next year, he was appointed professor of biology at the University of Amsterdam, where he cooperated with his stimulating colleague Jacobus van ’t Hoff, a famous chemist. In 1900, de Vries published his rediscovery of an invention by Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) in “Sur la loi de dis jonction des hybrides.” His research especially concentrated on ge netics. De Vries traveled extensively, among other places to the United States; he wrote a book about Yellowstone National Park. His collected works were published in seven volumes (Opera e peri odices collata, 1918–1927).