The granting of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in memoriam to the naturalist Johann Theodor Friedrich Müller, known in the scientific community as Fritz Müller, was unanimously approved at the University Council session held on March 31. Throughout his life, he made important contributions to the foundation of Darwinian evolutionary biology.
The proposal to grant the title was submitted by USP’s Institute of Biosciences (IB), with the support of the Museum of Zoology (MZ) and the Center for Marine Biology (Cebimar), as well as professors from the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Languages at Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP), the Institute of Geosciences (IGc), the Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP), the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (IAG), the Institute of Chemistry (IQ), and the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry (IQSC).
According to the University Statute, the honor is granted “to national or foreign personalities who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of sciences, letters, or the arts; and to those who have exceptionally benefited humanity, the country, or rendered relevant services to the University”. Since its creation more than 92 years ago, USP has awarded 125 Doctor Honoris Causa titles. The most recent was conferred in February of this year, when the council approved the granting of the honor to journalist Vladimir Herzog.
Fritz Müller was born on March 31, 1822, in the village of Windischholzhausen, in Erfurt, Germany. In 1841, he studied mathematics and natural history at the University of Berlin. Four years later, he returned to Erfurt and decided to study medicine at the University of Greifswald, a profession he never practiced, as he refused to take the graduation oath on the Bible.
In 1852, Müller emigrated to Brazil with his family and settled in the city of Blumenau, in the state of Santa Catarina. He acquired Brazilian nationality in 1856 and spent much of his life conducting research on crustaceans, which led to results that contributed to understanding the conjunction between development and evolution. Until his death in 1897, he was a teacher at the Lyceum in the city of Desterro, now Florianópolis, and for many years served as a researcher contracted by the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro.
Müller was the first scientist to present mathematical models to explain natural selection, producing compelling evidence for the theory through his studies on the evolution of crustaceans and butterflies. He systematized several species of Brazilian flora, having described and classified numerous plants. He was one of the first naturalists to take an interest in Brazilian ecosystems and developed the concept of Müllerian mimicry, whereby, during evolution, species become similar in order to deceive predators.
Müller’s best-known work is his book Für Darwin, which he wrote and published in 1864, three years after receiving the German translation of Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species. In the work, he reports observations on crustaceans that provided important support for Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection.
Darwin and Müller began corresponding in 1865. Through dozens of exchanged letters, the two scientists formed a friendship that lasted 17 years and led Darwin to nickname Fritz “the prince of observers” and to mention him 17 times in the revised edition of the British naturalist’s work.
Despite working in a region remote from major scientific centers, Müller is internationally recognized for his important contributions to the biological sciences.
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
