Alfred Gehring

Alfred Gehring (born July 21, 1892 in Hameln , † April 18, 1972 in Wiesbaden ) was a German agricultural chemist and for many years head of the Agricultural Research Station in Braunschweig . His practice-oriented field tests yielded new findings for fertilizer theory .

Life

Alfred Gehring attended the secondary school in Hanover and studied chemistry at the universities of Jena , Kiel and Göttingen since 1910 . During his studies in 1910 he became a member of the Salia Jena gymnastics club . In 1914 he received his doctorate at the University of Göttingen with the dissertation " Contributions to the knowledge of the physiology and distribution of denitrifying thiosulfate bacteria ". In 1922 he qualified as a professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig with the text “ Contribution to the clarification of the fertilizer effect of organic substances ” in the field of agricultural chemistry. From 1921 to 1935 he was head of the Agricultural Research Station in Braunschweig. During this time he gave lectures at the Technical University of Braunschweig on bacteriology, soil science, fertilizer theory and the chemistry of arable soils. In 1929 he was awarded the title of associate professor, and in 1931 he was appointed senior agricultural councilor. From 1936 he worked as a deputy director or head of department in the chemical laboratory of the Fresenius Institute in Wiesbaden .

Research activity

The research carried out by Gehring at the Agricultural Research Station in Braunschweig yielded new knowledge for the theory and practice of fertilizer theory . In several years of field trials, he has examined the different effectiveness of potash and lime fertilizers with changed pedological and climatic site factors. He published most of his articles in the "Journal for Plant Nutrition, Fertilization and Soil Science" and in agricultural science manuals. He has published the fertilization recommendations for agricultural practice derived from his test results in several independent publications, some of which appeared in the series “ Works of the Chamber of Agriculture Braunschweig ”. During his work at the Fresenius Institute he was co-author of the textbook “ Introduction to Qualitative Chemical Analysis ” (1942, 4th edition 1949).

Publications (selection)

• Newer views on the need for lime in the soil after experiments by the Agricultural Research Station in Braunschweig. Kalkverlag Berlin 1926.
• Field fertilization trials. The effect of artificial fertilizers on soils in Brunswick in their dependence on soil, climate and management. Verlag F. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1927 = work of the Chamber of Agriculture Braunschweig, issue 2.
• The practice of lime fertilization. Leipzig 1928 = work of the Association of Experimental Rings in the Free State of Saxony e. V. Issue 1.
• The application and effect of the potassium salts on the basis of recent experiments. Publishing company for arable farming Berlin 1930 = work of the Chamber of Agriculture Braunschweig, issue 4.
• Introduction to Qualitative Chemical Analysis. (together with R. Fresenius, with the collaboration of O. Fuchs and Marianne Vulpius). Verlag F. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1942. 2nd edition 1943; 3rd edition 1948; 4th edition 1949.

literature

• O. Wehrmann: About the scientific work in the Agricultural Research Station Braunschweig in the years 1921-1935. In: Soil fertility as the foundation of quality production. Festschrift for the 90th anniversary of the agricultural investigation and research institute Ebstorf (formerly Braunschweig). Edited by Fritz Giesecke. Uelzen / Hannover 1952, pp. 35–52 (with list of publications).
• JC Poggendorff: Biographical-literary concise dictionary of the exact natural sciences. Volume VIIa, Part 2, 1958, pp. 174-175 (list of publications).
• Contributions to the history of Carolo-Wilhelmina. Writings of the Braunschweigischer Hochschulbund Volume 9, 1991, p. 80.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erich Schrader: History of the Turnerschaft Salia zu Jena. Part II: 1911-1930. P. 337.