Ferdinand Wohltmann

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Ferdinand Wohltmann (born October 20, 1857 in Hitzacker (Elbe) , † April 10, 1919 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German agricultural scientist. In Halle he became one of the most important university lecturers in plant production and agriculture.

Life

Wohltmann at the Gustav Nachtigal monument in Duala, Cameroon

Ferdinand Wohltmann, son of a farmer, worked in agricultural practice for almost six years after attending grammar school. From 1881 he studied agricultural sciences at the Friedrichs-Universität Halle , the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin . In 1882 he was the founding chairman of the general association of academic-agricultural associations at German universities , from which the Naumburg Senior Citizens' Convention emerged . He returned to Halle in 1884. With a doctoral thesis under Julius Kühn , he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD.

After completing his doctorate, Wohltmann got a job as a scientific assistant for research at the Agricultural Institute of the University of Halle. In 1887 he went on a research trip to England and Scotland for several months to study agricultural teaching, experimentation and education. His detailed report was published in the Agricultural Yearbooks in 1888 and received a great deal of attention from experts. The acquisition of German colonies in Africa soon turned his interest to tropical agriculture. In 1888 he toured the West African islands and Cameroon . In 1889 he went on a study trip to southern Brazil on behalf of the Hamburg Colonization Association.

In 1891, Wohltmann completed his habilitation at the University of Halle with the work on the improvement and artificial disposition of natural production factors in tropical agriculture , the first chapter for a handbook that he was preparing. The first volume was published in 1892 under the title Handbook of Tropical Agriculture for the German Colonies in Africa on a scientific and practical basis . In the same year Wohltmann was appointed associate professor for agriculture at the University of Breslau . In 1893 he visited the world exhibition in Chicago and traveled with six German students to large areas of North America.

Professor of Soil Science and Plant Production in Bonn

In 1894, Wohltmann accepted a call as a full professor of crop production and soil science at the Agricultural Academy in Bonn-Poppelsdorf. From here he went on official research trips to Cameroon , German East Africa and Togo between 1896 and 1900 and to Samoa in 1903 . He published the results of these trips in several books. Since then, Wohltmann has been considered the best expert on tropical agriculture in specialist circles. In 1897 he was appointed to the board of the German Colonial Society . From 1897 he published the magazine Der Tropenpflanzer together with the agricultural botanist Otto Warburg . Wohltmann was the first university professor in Germany to teach crop production globally, i.e. also to adequately consider tropical crop production in his lectures.

One of Wohltmann's lasting merits at the Agricultural Academy Bonn-Poppelsdorf was the establishment of an institute for soil science and crop production. It was built on his initiative, furnished according to his plans, and opened in 1901. As a memorial to the inauguration of this institute, he published a treatise on the nutrient capital of West German soils. In the treatise " Chilisalpeter oder Ammoniak " (1903) he turned against the generalization of fertilization theories. He also did research in the field of plant breeding . Several new types of wheat were created under his aegis . In cooperation with the German Agricultural Society , he tested the yield performance of red clover varieties in tests lasting several years .

Director of the Agricultural Institute in Halle

In the spring of 1905 Wohltmann returned to the University of Halle as a full professor and deputy director of the Agricultural Institute. When Julius Kühn retired from active service in 1909, Wohltmann became his successor and director of this famous institute. In 1911, Wohltmann founded the Julius Kühn Archive, which in the following decades developed into a renowned agricultural journal. With great skill, Wohltmann was able to reorganize the Agricultural Institute in Halle within a few years up to the beginning of the First World War and to enforce the construction of new buildings.

In Halle too, Wohltmann continued to devote himself to tropical crop production and other specialist areas of tropical agriculture. Under his leadership, the Colonial Academy in Halle was founded in 1908 with the aim of supporting the colonial authorities (German Empire) through teaching and research. He sustainably supported the training of tropical farmers at the German Colonial School for Agriculture, Trade and Commerce in Witzenhausen. In 1909 he founded a colonial department within the German Agricultural Society, which he chaired until his death. During the First World War he was increasingly concerned with business and agricultural policy issues. He always followed his motto: Create and strive alone is only life .

Honors

Works

  • Studies of agricultural teaching, experimentation and education in England and Scotland . In: Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbücher Vol. 17, 1888, pp. 607–681.
  • On the improvement and artificial disposition of natural production factors in tropical agriculture . Habil.-Schr. Univ. Hall 1891.
  • Handbook of tropical agriculture for the German colonies in Africa on a scientific and practical basis . Vol. 1: The natural factors of tropical agriculture and the characteristics of their assessment . Duncker & Humblot Leipzig publisher 1892.
  • Agricultural travel studies on Chicago and North America . Edited by F. Wohltmann. Schletter'sche Buchhandlung Breslau 1894.
  • Plantation construction in Cameroon and its future. Three travel reports . F. Telge Berlin publisher 1896.
  • German East Africa. Report on the results of his trip, carried out on behalf of the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office, winter 1897/98 . Publisher F. Telge Berlin 1898.
  • Report on his trip to Togo. Executed on behalf of the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office in December 1899 . Berlin 1900 = The tropical planter. Supplements Vol. 1, No. 5.
  • The nutrient capital of West German soils with special consideration of their geological nature, their cadastral creditworthiness and their need for fertilizers . Commemorative publication for the inauguration of the new Institute for Soil Science and Plant Production of the Agricultural Academy Bonn-Poppelsdorf in the beginning of the summer semester 1901 = report of the institute No. 1, Verlag C. Georgi Bonn 1901.
  • Chilli nitrate or ammonia? Paul Parey Berlin 1903.
  • Planting and Settlement in Samoa. Exploration report . Berlin 1904 = The tropical planter. Supplements Vol. 5, No. 1 and 2.
  • 120 culture and vegetation pictures from our German colonies . Verlag Buchhandlung Wilhelm Süsserott Berlin 1904.
  • Julius Kühn. His life and work . Festschrift for the 80th birthday on October 23, 1905. Published on behalf of the festival committee by F. Wohltmann and P. Holdefleiß. Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin 1905.
  • Our domestic and colonial agriculture, their relationships and interactions . In: Kühn Archive Vol. 5, 1914, pp. 1–28.

literature

  • Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Wohltmann in Breslau . In: Fühling's Landwirthschaftliche Zeitung vol. 41, 1892, p. 875 u. 888–890 (with picture).
  • Dr. phil. Ferdinand Wohltmann . In: Hallesches Akademisches Vademecum Vol. 1: Bio-Bibliography of the active professors, private lecturers and lecturers of the united Friedrichs-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. Halle (Saale) 1910, pp. 205–208 (with list of publications).
  • G. Fröhlich: Ferdinand Wohltmann. Died on April 10, 1919 . In: Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Presse vol. 46, 1919, p. 224 (with picture).
  • G. Fröhlich: Ferdinand Wohltmann † . In: Illustrierte Landwirtschaftliche Zeitung vol. 39, 1919, p. 143 (with picture).
  • A. Golf: Ferdinand Wohltmann † . In: Deutsche Kolonialzeitung vol. 36, 1919, pp. 54–55.
  • Ferdinand Wohltmann † . In: Der Tropenpflanzer vol. 22, 1919, pp. 101-103.
  • Ferdinand Wohltmann . In: The German cultural pioneer. News from the German Colonial School. Memory number 1919, pp. 8–9 and 11 (with picture).
  • Arthur Golf: To Ferdinand Wohltmann's memory . Published by the Agricultural Institute of the University of Leipzig, Department for Colonial Agriculture. Leipzig 1919.
  • Dr. Wolff: Professor Dr. Ferdinand Wohltmann † . In: Yearbook of the German Agricultural Society, Vol. 36, 1921, pp. 126a-126d (with picture).

Web links

Wikisource: Ferdinand Wohltmann  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Ferdinand Wohltmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dissertation: A contribution to testing and perfecting the exact experimental method for solving pending plant and soil culture issues .
  2. ↑ Member entry of Ferdinand Wohltmann (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 30, 2015.


personal data
SURNAME Wohltmann, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German crop scientist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Hitzacker (Elbe)
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1919
Place of death Halle (Saale)