Frans Florschütz (1887‒1965) developed pollen analysis in the Netherlands as a biostratigraphical tool on the interface between geology, palaeobotany, soil science and climate history. He was involved in agricultural practice and the building of large infrastructure. Florschütz established centres of pollen analysis at the universities in Wageningen (1924) and Utrecht (1928), was appointed professor in Leiden (1948) and after retirement founded a chair in pollen analysis in Nijmegen (1960). The botanical institute in Utrecht was Florschütz’ alma mater where he supervised students over two decades. Since 1947 Florschütz trained micropalaeontologists how to use fossil pollen as a biostratigraphical tool in oil industry. He inspired Jonker in Utrecht and Zagwijn in Leiden. Several of his students focused on tropical areas and used applied and academic pollen analysis to explore tropical ecosystems, such as Polak (1930s) and Muller (1950s) in southeast Asia, Van Zinderen Bakker (1950s) in southern Africa, Van ...