Dieter Spaar

Dieter Spaar

Dieter Spaar (born September 21, 1933 in Salza ( Thuringia ); † January 30, 2010 in Berlin ) was a German crop scientist , virologist and last president of the GDR Academy of Agricultural Sciences .

Life path

After graduating from high school in 1952, Spaar first studied biology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . This was followed by a degree in agriculture specializing in phytopathology at the Timirjasew Academy in Moscow . He graduated in 1958 with a dissertation on the diagnosis of potato viruses . After one year of research at the Institute for Plant Breeding in Groß Lüsewitz, he held a leading position in the State Secretariat for higher education and technical schools in the GDR for 10 years. He has also been an honorary professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin since 1968 . This was followed by intensive research work at the Aschersleben Institute for Phytopathology of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR, of which he was director until 1972. With his appointment as a full member of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, he also took over the position of director for plant production research. Subsequently, Professor Spaar was Vice President from 1977 and President of the Academy from 1987. After the end of the academy in 1991, he worked until 1997 as director for agricultural technologies and plant protection at the Berlin Organization for Agriculture and Food. Thereafter, Spaar worked as a freelance consultant for sustainable agriculture in Eastern Europe until the end of his life.

Research achievements and major works

Spaar has published the essential results of his extensive research in the field of crop science, especially phytopathology, during his work in the academy and from 1992 on from project work in Eastern Europe (excerpt)

• as co-author: Plant Virology. Volume I – V, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1977/1978.
• with H. Kleinhempel among others: bacteriosis of cultivated plants. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1977.
• with H. Kleinhempel: Combating viral diseases in cultivated plants. VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1985.
• as co-author In: H. Kegler, W. Friedt (Hrsg.): Resistance of cultivated plants against phytopathogenic viruses. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena / Stuttgart / New York 1993.
• with P. Schuhmann (lead): Natural bases of plant production in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States. Book edition Agrimedia, Spithal 2000.
• with N. Makowski and WF Samersow: Cultivation of rapeseed. Moscow 1996. (Russian)
• with P. Schuhmann: Cultivation of potatoes. Moscow 1997. (Russian)
• with A. Postnikow, G. Kratzsch and N. Makowski : Getreideanbau. Moscow 1998. (Russian)

The full list of books is in his unfinished memoir. There are also around 700 agricultural and university policy, scientific, scientific-practical and popular publications. Spaar gave more than 300 scientific, scientific-practical and popular lectures at national and international level.

Honors and awards (excerpt)

• 1978 - AD Thaer commemorative medal from the Humboldt University in Berlin
• 1981 - Erwin-Baur-Medal of the AdL of the GDR
• 1981 - Member of the Lenin All Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences
• 1983 - Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver of the GDR
• 1985 - Edwin Hoernle Medal of the Agricultural Society of the GDR
• 1985 - Gold medal from the CSSR Academy of Agricultural Sciences
• 1987 - Honorary doctorate from the Humboldt University in Berlin
• 1987 - National Prize of the GDR for science and technology class II
• 1988 - Honorary doctorate from the University of Horticulture Budapest
• 1988 - External member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 1988 - M.Oczapowski Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 1989 - Ernst Haeckel Medal of the " Urania " Society
• 1989 - Badge of Honor from the Karl Marx University in Leipzig
• 1996 - Member of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Republic of Belarus
• 2000 - Honorary doctorate from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in Gorky
• 2006 - Honorary Doctorate from the Russian State Agricultural University - Moscow Timiryazev Academy

literature

• B.-R. Barth, R. Links, H. Müller-Enberger, J. Wielgohs (eds.): Who was who in the GDR. A biographical manual. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995, pp. 699–700.
• Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-8012-0034-5 , p. 302.
• D. Haase: Dieter Spaar - 75 years. In: information. 6/08, information edition of the Freundeskreis Timirjasewez eV, special edition, 2008, 1.
• H. Kegler: Dieter Spaar on his 65th birthday. In: Archives for Phytopathology and Plant Protection. 31, 1998, pp. 475-477.
• N. Makowski: Dieter Spaar - 65 years. In: New Agriculture. 10, 1998, p. 28.
• H. Wagemann: Laudation on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Dieter Spaar. In: Integrated plant protection and resistance of cultivated plants to diseases and pests. Berlin 2003.
• WG Loschakow: Agronomicheskoe daljokoe - Bliskoe. (Agronomic past - present), Isdatelstwo RGAU-MCXA, Moscow 2008, pp. 401–403.
• Pomeranzew: Komputer na Ferme. Selskaja shiisn, Moscow, 1987, 214, 16. 09
• AR Zyganow, LS Dvoinischnikowa: Informazionnoe soobschtschenie. In: Izwestija Akademii Agrarnych Nauk Respubliki Belarus. 3, 2000, p. 100.
• IS Shatilov: GDR specialists with a diploma from the Timirjasew Academy. In: Press of the Soviet Union. 40, 1975, pp. 31-32.
• Siegfried Kuntsche:  Spaar, Dieter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Theophil Gerber: Personalities from agriculture and forestry, horticulture and veterinary medicine - Biographisches Lexikon. NORA Berlin, 4th ext. Edition 2014, pp. 747-748, ISBN 978-3-936735-67-3 .

Web links

• dieter-spaar.de Memories of Dieter Spaar
• Literature by and about Dieter Spaar in the catalog of the German National Library