Aino Henssen

Aino Marjatta Henssen (12 April 1925, Elberfeld – 29 August 2011, Marburg ), was a German lichenologist and systematist. Her father, Gottfried Henssen, was a folklorist and her mother was Finnish.

Education and career Henssen began her studies in biology in Freiburg, Germany, before continuing in Marburg. She obtained her doctorate in 1953, which focused on the physiology of the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrhiza. In 1963, she became the curator of the Botanisches Institut at Philipps-Universität in Marburg, Germany. Following her habilitation in 1965, she was appointed in 1970 to the position of associate professor for thallophyte studies. She retired in 1990.

Contributions Henssen made many advancements to the taxonomic knowledge of cyanolichens and wrote a textbook on the subject. This book reorganized the taxonomic classification and connected lichen families to evolutionary clades. She later focused on actinomycetes during her postdoctoral at the Institute for Bacteriology in Berlin, leading to the discovery of two new genera, Pseudonocardia and Thermomonospora. and Lichenes cyanophili et fungi saxicolae exsiccati (1990).

Recognition Henssen was given a scholarship from the American Association of University Women. A Festschrift was published in her honour on the occasion of her 65th birthday in 1990.

Eponymy Several taxa have been named to honour Henssen, including the genus Ainoa