Chronology of the directors

From 1809 until today:

Franz von Paula von Schrank (*1747 – † 1835)

  • 1809-1835 Director of garden and herbarium first in Landshut, then in Munich
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (*1794 – † 1868)

  • 1835-1854 Director of the garden and herbarium, today the Botanical State Collection
  • From 1826 Full Professor of Botany at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU)
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli (*1817 – † 1891)

  • 1857-1891 Director of the garden as well as full professor of botany at the LMU Faculty of Philosophy
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Karl Eberhard von Goebel (*1855 – † 1932)

  • 1891-1932 Director of the Garden | First Director of the Botanical Garden in Munich-Nymphenburg and Professor of Botany at the LMU
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Friedrich von Wettstein (*1895 – † 1945)

  • 1931-1934 Director of the garden and professor of botany at the LMU
  • 1934 Appointed to Berlin

Friedrich Karl Faber (*1880 – † 1954)

  • 1935-1945 Director of the garden and professor of botany at the LMU
  • His deputies were Professor Dr. Karl Suessenguth and Professor Dr. Ernst Bergdolt

Karl Suessenguth (*1893 – † 1955)

  • from 21.8.1945 de facto, from 1.9.1947 also formally, director of the garden
  • from 26.10.1948 also provisional head of the Botanical Institute and the Herbarium
  • from 1.9.1947 substitution of the professorship for botany at the LMU

Otto Renner (*1883 – † 1960)

  • November 9, 1948 until summer 1953 director of the garden
  • Professor of Botany at the LMU

Leo Brauner (*1898 – † 1974)

  • 1953-1966 Director of the garden
  • Professor of Botany at the LMU

Hermann Merxmüller (*1920 – † 1988)

  • 1966-1985 Director of the garden and since 1958 holder of a newly established chair of systematic botany at the LMU
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Franz Josef Schötz (*1920 – † 2022)

  • 1985-1988 Director
  • Professor of Botany
  • Obituary

Wolfgang Engelhart (*1922 – † 2006)

  • 1988-1990 Provisional director of the garden
  • Honorary professor at the LMU

Jürke Grau (*1937- † 2022)

  • 1991-2003 Director of the garden
  • Professor of Systematic Botany at the LMU

Susanne Sabine Renner (*1954)

  • 2003-2020 Director of the Garden
  • Professor of Systematic Botany at the LMU
  • Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Gudrun Kadereit (*1969)

  • Since 2021 Director of the Garden and the Botanical State Collection
  • Chair of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants at the LMU

For more information on management and staff, please visit the staff section.