Ernst Hentschel

Ernst Ludwig Oskar Hentschel (born February 25, 1876 in Salzwedel , Altmark, † December 9, 1945 in Hamburg ) was a German hydrobiologist .

Life

As a student in Salzwedel, Ernst Hentschel dealt intensively with biological observations in his homeland. From 1895 to 1898 he studied biology at the universities of Tübingen , Greifswald and Munich , where he received his doctorate in 1898 with a thesis on spider eyes. This was followed by years of short assistant contracts at the university and at the Zoological State Collections in Munich , at the Zoological Institute in Strasbourg and from 1901 to 1903 at the Zoological Station in Naples with Anton Dohrn . 1903–1904 he supplemented his studies in Greifswald and received the qualification to teach at secondary schools. As a teacher, he wrote a generally understandable book about "The Life of Fresh Water" (1909), which contributed to the fact that from 1908 to 1913 he received a job as a scientific assistant at the Zoological State Institute and Zoological Museum Hamburg . During this time research trips to Newfoundland and the Arctic waters take place. During this time he dealt u. a. with the processing of sponges (1914). In 1913, because of poor pay and a growing family, he was forced to switch to school in Hamburg.

As early as 1914, the new director of the Zoological Museum, Hans Lohmann , brought him back to science and entrusted him with the management of the hydrobiological department of the Zoological State Institute and Zoological Museum, which he led until his death in 1945. His scientific work initially concerned the pollution of the Elbe (1917) and the growth of piles and sea ​​marks in the Elbe and nearby areas of the North Sea, but also on seagoing vessels (1916). Joint projects with shipping companies and the paint industry developed. In 1923 his "Grundzüge der Hydrobiologie" appeared, one of the first textbooks for this subject.

Hentschel held lectures and internships at the Hamburg Colonial Institute , a forerunner of the University of Hamburg , which was founded in 1919. In the same year he was appointed private lecturer at the university and in 1939 an extraordinary professor.

From 1925 to 1927 he was the only biologist to take part in the German Atlantic Expedition with the research ship Meteor . He examined the small plankton on scoop samples from all water depths and interpreted the results in connection with the data from the physical ( Günther Böhnecke , Georg Wüst ) and chemical oceanographers ( Hermann Wattenberg ). This is an early example of planned scientific collaboration within the various disciplines of marine research (Hentschel and Wattenberg 1930), which Alfred Merz , the leader of the expedition, called for when planning the expedition. As the oldest scientific participant in the expedition, Hentschel became the spokesman for the scientists on board during the expedition after Merz's death in 1925. He also took on the task of representing science during the port stays at scientific societies, in universities and at receptions. The comprehensive main work of the biological expedition results “General Biology of the South Atlantic Ocean ” appeared in three volumes (1933, 1936 and 1941). In 1941 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Even during his time as assistant, Hentschel was interested in the global interrelationships of the oceans, as can be seen from unpublished lecture manuscripts and diary notes. On the basis of the material from the Meteor expedition, he designed (1942) a general map for the biological conditions of the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1929 and during the 1930s he took part in expeditions to the North Atlantic and around Iceland , initially again with RV METEOR, but then also with German and Icelandic fishing vessels and in the ports with fish landings. While the work that had begun in the South Atlantic was initially continued, later the questions about plankton as fish food, mainly about the commercially used cod and herring species. This work was also related to the plans of the International Council for Marine Research , of which he was a member of the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research in the Plankton Committee. At the beginning of the 1940s, Hentschel continued his research on plankton as fish food in the Baltic Sea, because there was the prospect of being able to record the biological relationships during the entire annual cycle, which was not possible around Iceland for logistical reasons. A comprehensive work on “Plankton science and fishery biology” appeared only after his death (1948).

After his retirement in 1941, Hentschel continued to work as head of the hydrobiological department and continued teaching until shortly before his death, as there were hardly any teaching staff available due to the war. The difficult circumstances after the destruction of the Zoological Museum in 1943 and after the end of the war did not prevent him from fulfilling his previous duties. He felt particularly committed to the young war veterans who had returned home, who found little in their home country and who wanted to finally study.

Honor

• In 1936 the Icelandic government awarded Hentschel the Great Knight's Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcons for his services to Icelandic fisheries research and the fishing industry.

Publications

• Ernst Hentschel: The marine mammals. Theodor Thomas, Leipzig 1900 ( online ).
• Ernst Hentschel: The life of fresh water. Verlag Ernst Reinhardt, Munich 1909, 336 pp.
• Ernst Hentschel: Monaxone pebble sponges and horn sponges of the German South Polar Expedition 1901–1903. German South Polar Expedition 15, 35–141, 1914.
• Ernst Hentschel: Biological studies on animal and vegetable growth in the port of Hamburg. Communications from the Zoological Museum Hamburg 33, 1916, pp. 1–176.
• Ernst Hentschel: Results of the biological studies on the pollution of the Elbe near Hamburg. Communications from the Zoological Museum Hamburg 34, 1917, pp. 35–190.
• Ernst Hentschel: Basic features of the hydrobiology. Verlag Gustav Fischer, Jena 1923, 221 pp.
• Ernst Hentschel, H. Wattenberg: Plankton and phosphate in the surface layer of the South Atlantic Ocean. Annalen der Hydrographie und Maritimen Meteorologie 58, 1930, pp. 273-277.
• Ernst Hentschel: General Biology of the South Atlantic Ocean. I. The pelagial of the uppermost water layer. Scientific results of the German Atlantic Expedition on the research and survey ship “Meteor” 1925–1927, 1933, 11 (1), pp. 1–120.
• Ernst Hentschel: General Biology of the South Atlantic Ocean. II. The pelagial of the lower water layers. Scientific results of the German Atlantic Expedition on the research and survey ship “Meteor” 1925–1927, 1936, 11 (2), I – XII + 171–344.
• Ernst Hentschel: The network plankton of the South Atlantic Ocean. A summary. Scientific results of the German Atlantic Expedition on the research and survey ship “Meteor” 1925–1927, 1941, 13 (4), pp. 245–308.
• Ernst Hentschel: The plankton population of the seas around Iceland. Reports of the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research NF, 1941, 10 (2), pp. 128–193.
• Ernst Hentschel: A Biological Map of the Atlantic Ocean. Zoologischer Anzeiger 137, 1942, pp. 103-123.
• Ernst Hentschel: Plankton science and fishery biology. Reports of the German Commission for Marine Research, NF, 1948 11 (3), pp. 258–281.

literature

• Hubert Caspers: Ernst Hentschel †. 1876-1945 . Obituary in: Archive for Hydrobiology 42. 1949, pp. 490-499.
• Hubert Caspers: Ernst Hentschel. Obituary in: Reports of the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research. 1949, NF XI (4), 449-456.
• Hjalmar Thiel: Chemical and biological investigations with special emphasis on interdisciplinary cooperation during the German Atlantic Expedition 1925–1927. Historisch-Meereskundliches Jahrbuch 11, 2005, pp. 99–140.
• Steffen Langusch: A marine biologist from Salzwedel. For the 130th birthday of Prof. Dr. Ernst Hentschel on February 25, 2006. In: Altmark-Blätter. Local supplement of the Altmark-Zeitung , Volume 17, No. 8, Saturday, February 25, 2006, pp. 29–31.

Web links

• Literature by and about Ernst Hentschel in the bibliographic database WorldCat
• Ernst Hentschel's personnel form in the personnel file of the BIL reviewer in the archive database of the Library for Research on Educational History (BBF)