Fritz Theodor Overbeck

Fritz Theodor Overbeck (born August 2, 1898 in Worpswede , † February 22, 1983 in Bremen ) was a German botanist . He is one of the founders of moor botany and pollen analysis in Central Europe.

Life

Fritz Theodor Overbeck was the son of the painter couple Fritz Overbeck (1869-1909) and Hermine Overbeck-Rohte (1869-1937) in the middle of the Teufelsmoor located Worpswede born. The intellectual climate of his parents' house not only encouraged his love of drawing, but also his scientific ambition. In addition to his scientific works, Overbeck also devoted himself to literature.

Fritz Theodor Overbeck attended the secondary school in Vegesack . After graduating from high school there, he entered the military and came to the front in 1917. In October 1918 he was discharged seriously ill. After the war, Overbeck decided to study natural sciences in Kiel . In February 1919, an interim semester had been set up there for combatants. Overbeck continued his studies in Heidelberg in the summer of 1919 . After his exams, Overbeck first took up an assistant position in Freiburg im Breisgau . He then moved in 1924 to the Botanical Institute in Frankfurt and started in the seven bogs of Rhön with the pollen analysis . In his other positions as an assistant in Breslau and as a university lecturer in Hanover , Bonn and Kiel, he continued to deal with the history of the moor and forest. In 1965 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

Services

As a biologist, Overbeck researched the vegetation , the climate and the settlement history of the moors and advanced to become the leading moor botanist. He set standards in particular in the field of pollen analysis. He belonged to that generation of botanists who could still survey the entire field of science. Overbeck describes the theoretical background of the pollen analysis in the "Botanical-Geological Moorkunde" (1975). But he did not only see the moors as an object of investigation, but pleaded for the securing of the remaining raised moors due to the emotional connection to this habitat that had grown since his childhood. In an appraisal in 1958, Overbeck specifically campaigned for the preservation of part of the Ahlenmoor near Bederkesa , as he had previously done for the Esterweger Dose .

Overbeck died in 1983 in his parents' house in Bremen, two years after the " Lower Saxony Moor Protection Program " was launched, which provided for far-reaching measures to protect the natural moors and the renaturation of drained sites. Fritz Theodor Overbeck is seen as a pioneer for comprehensive moor protection.

Works

A childhood in Worpswede . Röver-Verlag Bremen, 1983, ISBN 3-7672-0637-4
The Nordic Queen . Röver-Verlag Bremen, 1978, ISBN 3-87681-081-7
All sorts of allotria between the Weser and Elbe . Röver-Verlag Bremen, 1977, ISBN 3-87681-065-5
Kattenhorn's horse, fables about old Worpswede , Röver-Verlag Bremen, 1974, ISBN 3-87681-048-5
Vegesack, you beautiful little town , Christians Hamburg, 1979, ISBN 3-7672-0643-9

Fonts

The great moor near Gifhorn alternating hygroclinic and xeroclinic phases of the north-west German raised bog development , Dorn-Verlag Bremen-Horn, 1952
The moors of Lower Saxony from a geological and botanical perspective , Stalling-Verlag Oldenburg, 1939
Botanical-geological bog studies with special consideration of the bogs of northwest Germany as sources for the history of vegetation, climate and settlement , Wachholtz Neumünster, 1975, ISBN 3-529-06150-6

literature

W. Halbsguth & H. Straka: Fritz Theodor Overbeck . In: Reports d. German. Botanical Society 97: 487-496. 1984
C. Ritzau: A real “Torfkopp”. The botanist Fritz Theodor Overbeck . In: Lower Saxony. Magazine for culture, history, home and nature since 1985 , special issue No. 1, pages 32 to 35. Hanover 2005.

Web links

Literature by and about Fritz Theodor Overbeck in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 184.

personal data
SURNAME	Overbeck, Fritz Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Overbeck, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 2, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH	Worpswede
DATE OF DEATH	February 22, 1983
Place of death	Bremen

[1] Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 184.