Ernst Ehwald

Ernst Ehwald 1952

Ernst Ehwald (born August 11, 1913 in Thal (near Ruhla ); † August 14, 1986 in Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia ) was a German soil scientist . He coined the term “essence of soil” as the interface between the lithosphere and the pedosphere .

Life

Ernst Ehwald studied forestry from 1933 to 1938 in Hannoversch Münden , Freiburg im Breisgau and Munich . In 1937, at the age of 24, he joined the NSDAP . After completing his studies, he worked in the forestry service in Thuringia until he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1939 and participated in the Second World War in France, on the island of Guernsey and, most recently, in the vegetation mapping under Reinhold Tüxen behind the Eastern Front . In 1945 Ehwald administered forest offices in the Thuringian Forest and joined the KPD (later SED ) in the same year .

After initial work in the field of plant sociology , he began his scientific career in 1946 as head of the research department for forest site mapping in Jena . In 1951 he was entrusted with the management of the Institute for Forest Soil Science and Site Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin in Eberswalde . In 1954 he received his doctorate from the University of Jena with a thesis on forest climatology. In 1955 he was appointed professor. His university activities in Eberswalde ended in 1963 when the forestry faculty was dissolved. He had fought in vain to preserve it.

Ernst Ehwald around 1971

Since 1952 a full member of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin (DAL), later the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR (AdL), Ehwald was secretary of the forestry section of the academy until 1961 and then vice-president of the DAL until 1970 . Ehwald's work as Vice President and Institute Director ended abruptly in 1970 when he was dismissed for political reasons: “lack of practical relevance” (i.e. too much basic research), “deficiencies in personnel policy” (none of his four closest colleagues belonged to the SED state party). The GDR press last mentioned him in 1968 and then again in 1986 in the form of an obituary notice from Humboldt University. He did not live to see his rehabilitation by the plenary session of the Agricultural Academy in 1990.

From 1971 until his retirement in 1978 he worked as a professor in the Plant Production and Horticulture Section of the Humboldt University in Berlin.

For his scientific achievements Ehwald was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze and the GDR Medal of Merit. The Soil Science Society of the GDR and the All Union Society for Soil Science of the USSR made him an honorary member .

In 2009, the German Soil Science Society recognized Ehwald as an “outstanding German soil scientist of the 20th century”, who looked beyond the subject to the “essence of soil”.

Ernst Ehwald is the grandson of the historian and classical philologist Rudolf Ehwald .

Fonts

• About the nutrient cycle of the forest . Hirzel-Verlag Leipzig 1957. Accessory: session reports of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin, vol. 6, 1957, no. 1.
• Soil fertility and productivity . In: Research and work. Festschrift for the 150th anniversary of the Humboldt University in Berlin 1810–1960, Vol. 2, Berlin 1960, pp. 889–908.
• Lines of development of soil science from classical antiquity to the 18th century . In: Albrecht-Thaer-Archiv vol. 8, 1962, pp. 95–110.
• On the concept and nature of soil fertility . Meeting reports of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin, Vol. 12, 1963, no. 14.
• Lines of Development in the History of Soil Science . In: Albrecht-Thaer-Archiv, Vol. 8, 1964, pp. 5-36.
• Some philosophical problems in soil science . Meeting reports of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin, Vol. 13, 1964, no. 8.

literature

• Prof. Dr. Ernst Ehwald on his 65th birthday . In: Archive for arable and plant cultivation and soil science, Vol. 22, 1978, pp. 457–458 (with picture).
• Immo Lieberoth: Professor Dr. Ernst Ehwald on his 70th birthday . In: Archive for arable and plant cultivation and soil science, Vol. 27, 1983, pp. 481-482 (with picture).
• Immo Lieberoth: In memoriam Professor Dr. Ernst Ehwald . In: Archive for arable and plant cultivation and soil science, Vol. 31, 1987, pp. 301–303 (with picture).

Web links

Commons : Ernst Ehwald  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ernst Ehwald in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , p. 75.
2. ↑ Hans-Friedrich Joachim: On the dissolution of the forestry faculty Eberswalde of the Humboldt University in Berlin 1963. In: Contributions for forestry and landscape ecology 27/1993
3. ↑ Neue Zeit of March 4, 1952, p. 4: “The German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin appointed six new members. These are National Prize Winner Prof. Fritz Oberdorf , National Prize Winner Dipl.-Farmer Franz Vettel , Forest Master Ernst Ehwald, Prof. Hermann Meusel , Prof. Dr. Friedrich Müssemeier and Prof. Dr. Johannes Reinhold . "
4. ↑ Neues Deutschland from October 11, 1961, p. 3: “On Tuesday morning, the 5th festival meeting of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin was held on the occasion of its tenth anniversary by the Vice-President of the Academy, Professor Ernst Ehwald solemnly opened. On behalf of the Academy, he welcomed around 600 scientists and practitioners, representatives of the Central Committee, the government, the bloc parties and mass organizations as well as members of the diplomatic corps. "
5. ^ Conference report of the German Soil Science Society in Bonn, September 2009: Ernst Ehwald - his contribution to soil genetics / systematics and the history of soil science
6. ↑ Neues Deutschland, September 3, 1986, p. 7: “Professor Ehwald worked for many years as a recognized professor at our university. His research has contributed significantly to the international reputation of soil science in the GDR. "