Portrait of Hugo de Vries

Birthday profile

Hugo de Vries

Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (died 1935)

Born
February 16, 1848
Died
May 21, 1935
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1848

About Hugo de Vries

Hugo Marie de Vries was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while apparently unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation theory of evolution. Hugo Marie de Vries (Dutch:; 16 February 1848 – 21 May 1935) was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. In his own time, de Vries was best known for his mutation theory. In the late 1890s, de Vries became aware of Mendel's obscure paper of thirty years earlier and he altered some of his terminology to match.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Hugo de Vries was born

Hugo de Vries was born in 1848. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1848

  • Best-selling bookThe Communist Manifesto by Marx & Engels

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineGold discovered at Sutter's Mill — California Gold Rush
  • Technology milestoneFirst modern chewing gum sold
  • Defining fadGold Rush fever
  • World population~1.28B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJames K. Polk
  • U.S. population21.4M

1848 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Hugo de Vries's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18482026
Population21.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.