Step 1: Question Summary:
This question asks for the identification of the scientist known as the "Father of Plant Tissue Culture."
Step 2: Answer Choices Explained:
Gottlieb Haberlandt: This Austrian botanist, in 1902, pioneered the in vitro culture of isolated plant cells (from Lamium and Eichhornia) in nutrient solution. Though cell division wasn't achieved, he correctly predicted the regeneration of a whole plant from a single somatic cell, terming this "totipotentiality" (now known as totipotency). His initial experiments established the basis for plant tissue culture.
Theodor Schwann: A German biologist and co-founder of Cell Theory in 1839.
Friedrich J. Haberlandt: A distractor. Gottlieb Haberlandt is the correct answer.
Robert Koch: A German microbiologist famous for establishing the link between specific microbes and diseases, a key figure in modern bacteriology.
Step 3: Correct Answer:
Gottlieb Haberlandt is widely considered the father of Plant Tissue Culture due to his fundamental concepts and experiments.