Eduard Adolf Strasburger (not Eduard Gottlieb as is sometimes reported) was born in Warsaw, Poland, then governed by Russia. After attending the Sorbonne in Paris from 1862 to 1864, he studied botany under Hermann Schacht (1814-1864) at the University of Bonn, Germany, where he also heard botanical lectures by Julius von Sachs (1832-1897), who was visiting from Poppelsdorf, and Nathanael Pringsheim (1823-1894), who was visiting from Jena. When Schacht died suddenly, Strasburger transferred to the University of Jena and became Pringsheim's assistant and protege.

Strasburger was also the protege of Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) at Jena. Through Haeckel, Strasburger became a devotee of Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) evolutionary theory. Haeckel's influence gained Strasburger a Jena professorship in 1869 when Pringsheim retired. Strasburger also served as director of the botanical gardens in Jena. His vacations to the Riviera with Haeckel combined science and pleasure.

In 1881, Strasburger accepted a teaching and research position at the...