Emil Ramann

Emil Otto Paul Bruno Ramann (born April 30, 1851 Gut Dorotheenthal in Oberndorf , † January 19, 1926 in Munich ) was a German soil scientist , forest scientist and local researcher . He is one of the founders of soil science as an independent science in Germany.

Life and career

After attending middle school, Emil Ramann became a pharmacist after training at the state laboratory in Hamburg. After the death of his father Gustav Ramann (1805–1875), he finished his work on butterflies and in 1876 began studying chemistry and plant physiology at the University of Berlin . In 1878 he became Adolf Remelé's assistant at the Royal Forest Academy in Eberswalde , but continued to attend chemistry lectures in Berlin. He received his doctorate in 1881 at the University of Rostock with studies on the passivity of iron . In 1885 he completed his habilitation and one year later became the conductor of the chemical-physical department of the experimental department in Eberswalde. From 1890 he was titular professor there until he was appointed to the newly created professorship for soil science in 1895. In 1900 he accepted a professorship for soil science and agricultural chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich as the successor to Ernst Ebermayer , where he worked until his death.

Scientific work

Emil Ramann dealt with soil and forest chemistry as well as silvicultural topics at the beginning of his career . Work on the formation of peatlands and general soil science was added later. Towards the end of his career, basic research became more important in his work. As early as the 1880s, he was concerned with the effects of smoke gases on forest trees, making him a pioneer in forest damage research . He developed the ideas about the soil-forming process of podsolization , which are still valid today, and worked on topics of soil acidity and cation sorption . His textbook Soil Science (1905) made him known outside of Germany. In it he described u. a. the brown earth . With his work Soil Formation and Soil Division , he laid the foundations for the later German soil systematics .

Honors

• Honorary doctorate from the Eberswalde Forestry University (1923)
• Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1903)
• Member of the Swedish Academy of Agricultural Chemistry (1919)
• Member of the Finnish Forest Science Society (1921)
• Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1925)
• Honorary President of the International Soil Science Conferences in Prague (1922) and Rome (1924)

Streets in Munich and Freising (Freising-Weihenstephan campus of the Technical University of Munich ) are named after Emil Ramann .

Fonts (selection)

• (1881): Investigations into the passivity of iron. Inaugural dissertation, University of Rostock.
• (1981–83): Contributions to the statics of silviculture. In: Zeitschrift für Jagd- und Forstwesen 13, p. 417; 14, p. 54, p. 350 and p. 497; 15, p. 244.
• (1884): About the weathering of diluvial sands. In: Yearbook of the Kgl. prussia. Geol. Landesanstalt 1884, section III, p. 1.
• (1885): The Ortstein and similar secondary formations in the diluvial and alluvial sands. In: Yearbook of the Geol. Landesanstalt 1885, Section III, p. 1.
• (1888): Damage to pines from kiln smoke. In: Zeitschrift für Jagd- und Forstwese n 20, p. 98.
• (1890): The forest litter and its importance for soil and forest. Berlin, Springer.
• (1893): Forest soil science and site theory. Berlin, Springer. (2nd and 3rd editions under the title Soil Science , 1905 and 1911)
• (1918): Soil formation and soil division (system of soils). Berlin, Springer.

literature

• GA Krauss : Emil Ramann †. In: Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt 48, 1926, pp. 273–278.
• GA Krauss, H. Sallinger: E. Ramann on his 100th birthday on April 30, 1951. In: Zeitschrift für Pflanzenernähr., Düng., Bodenk. 6, 1952, 53-60.
• K. Kreutzer: Guidelines and research priorities in forest soil science and site studies. In: Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt 98, 1979, pp. 65-73.
• P. Schad, KE Rehfuess : Emil Ramann - founder of soil science as an independent science. In: Series of publications Institute for Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, University of Kiel 95, 2012, pp. 45–57.