Florus Kercher

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Florus Kertscher (born October 15, 1892 in Gimmel (Schmölln) , † May 5, 1966 in Dresden ) was a German agricultural scientist and agricultural chemist .

Life

Kercher was the son of a farmer and studied natural sciences in Munich before the First World War and agriculture at the University of Leipzig after the war . As a lieutenant in the reserve , he had participated in the battles on the western front in the infantry regiment “Prince Johann Georg” (8th Royal Saxon) No. 107 and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Order of Albrecht with Swords, the Knight's Cross of the The Duke of Saxony-Ernestine House Order and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry on December 8, 1916 .

In 1923 he came to the research and teaching institute for soil milling culture , which gave him the scientific management of the Gieshof estate in Neubarnim im Oderbruch . In 1926 he changed to Felix Löhnis' assistant at the Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Bacteriology at the University of Leipzig. From there he went to the Agricultural Research Institute in Dresden in 1930, initially as an assistant and then as a department head . In 1935 he was appointed director of the research institute as the successor to Hugo Neubauer and appointed professor. After this was destroyed in 1945, he was able to continue his scientific work at the agricultural research station in Jena from 1947 . In 1950 he was appointed head of the State Institute for Agriculture, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition , which he headed until 1952. In 1953 he became director of the newly founded Institute for Agricultural Experiments and Investigations in Jena, a forerunner of the Thuringian State Research Center for Agriculture . He headed the institute until 1959.

In his scientific work he devoted himself to systematic soil analysis , soil improvement through the targeted use of fertilizers , composting and biogas production . He also worked on the standardization of the germination method and on the agricultural use of urban wastewater and undertook crop rotation experiments using grass-clover mixtures.

He exerted decisive scientific influence on the ordinance of June 26, 1952 on the reorganization of soil research in the GDR. With this ordinance, the mandatory regular soil examination, which served to optimize the use of fertilizers in agriculture, became law for the first time in a European country.

One of Kercher's particular concerns was to convey scientific knowledge to farmers. From 1955 to 1962 he was a member of the editorial staff of the magazine for agricultural testing and investigation . Since his studies in Munich, the winter semester 1913/1914, he belonged to the Corps Teutonia, the later Corps Teutonia-Hercynia Braunschweig .

Professional career

Fonts

  • Six-year manure tests to check the value of hot fermentation. In: Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Volume 59, Issue 1, pp. 1–10, 1937 (with foreword by Hugo Neubauer )
  • Hugo Neubauer. In: Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. Volume 5, Issue 3-4, pp. 129-134, 1938
  • The value of systematic soil research and the evaluation of its results. 1951, 2nd ed. OCLC 73495063
  • Practical instructions for digging up manure and manure. 1951 OCLC 73495059
  • Explanations for the film Ways to Increase Soil Fertility , 1952
  • Hugo Neubauer, man and work. In: Journal for agricultural testing and investigation, Volume 1, 1955, pp. 483-489.
  • On the tenth anniversary of Hugo Neubauer's death. In: German agriculture. Volume 7, 1956, pp. 152–154.

literature

  • Wolfgang Böhm: Kercher, Florus. In: Biographical handbook on the history of crop production. 1997, pp. 137-138 ( digitized version )
  • W. Bergmann: Florus Kertscher - the farmer professor. in: The Altenburg history and house calendar. (2000), pp. 205 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Headcount at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Summer half year 1918 . Munich, 1918. pp. VI-XXI
  2. ↑ 11th Thuringian Fertilization Conference - Ortwin Krause, Lothar Herold: 50 Years of Soil Research in East Germany . (PDF file; 885 kB) Published in: Landwirtschaft und Landschaftspflege in Thüringen , Heft 8, 2003, pp. 32–38
  3. ^ Universitätsarchiv Leipzig - Academic honorary degrees ( Memento from February 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Kercher, Florus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German agricultural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Gimmel (Schmölln)
DATE OF DEATH May 5th 1966
Place of death Dresden