Georg Wiegner

Georg Wiegner (born April 20, 1883 in Leipzig , † April 14, 1936 in Zurich ) was a German agricultural chemist and soil scientist . He applied the knowledge of colloid chemistry to the soil. As a professor at the ETH Zurich , he established soil science as an independent research area in Switzerland.

Life path

Georg Wiegner, son of a large family, studied natural sciences, especially chemistry , at the University of Leipzig , where he received his doctorate in 1906 with a dissertation on absorption speeds between solid and gaseous substances. From 1907 he worked as an assistant to Wilhelm Fleischmann , the founder of milk science, at the Agricultural Institute of the University of Göttingen . Fleischmann got him excited about agricultural chemistry . Wiegner used new methods to research the physical and chemical properties of milk. He received subsequent suggestions from the colloid chemist Richard Zsigmondy, who worked at the University of Göttingen .

Wiegner combined the laws of colloid chemistry with the findings of dairy science in his experimental work . Within a few years he had published numerous articles on the chemistry of milk in renowned specialist journals. Because of these publications he received the Venia legendi for the field of agricultural chemistry in 1911 . As a private lecturer, he gave lectures on milk chemistry and fertilizer theory at the University of Göttingen. In 1913 he accepted an appointment as a full professor of agricultural chemistry at the Swiss Federal University of Zurich , where he carried out active research for 23 years until his death.

Research services

Wiegner recognized early on that many open problems in the field of soil science can only be explained and solved with knowledge of colloid chemistry. He published his first soil scientific experimental work in 1912 in the “Journal für Landwirtschaft” under the title “ On the exchange of bases in the soil ”. It set the trend for further research on the exchange of bases and cations in the soil , on soil genetics and on soil mapping . In numerous studies, Wiegner was able to prove that not only the chemical composition, but also the texture and fine structure of the soil particles are responsible for the reaction properties of a soil. But agricultural issues, such as the problem of soil fermentation , also appeared in a new light from now on.

In Wiegner's scientific publications , astonishing detailed knowledge is paired with an ingenious talent for scientific synthesis. This is particularly evident in his programmatic work “ Soil and Soil Formation in Colloid Chemistry ”, of which six editions were published between 1918 and 1931. Wiegner's “ Instructions for the quantitative agricultural chemical internship ” (1926, 2nd edition 1938) received widespread attention in university teaching . In this book in particular, his concern to combine agricultural science and agricultural practice becomes apparent. For him, agricultural chemistry was the bridge on which chemistry, physics, mineralogy and biology meet.

In addition to agricultural chemistry and soil science, Wiegner in Zurich also dealt with problems of animal nutrition . Since 1925 he has been working on problems of feed preservation, pasture technology, digestibility of feed and the vitamin effect of feeding in an "Institute for Pet Nutrition" newly established on the initiative of the Swiss Farmers' Association.

His scientific life's work received high international recognition. Wiegner was an honorary member of several scientific societies, including the International Soil Science Society and the Society of Swiss Analytical Chemists. The veterinary medicine faculty of the University of Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1935 for his research in the field of animal nutrition . Despite several honorable appointments to foreign universities, Wiegner remained loyal to his adopted home, Switzerland.

Publications (selection)

• About absorption speeds between solid and gaseous substances. About metastable states between solid and gaseous substances . Diss. Phil. Univ. Leipzig 1906.
• For the exchange of bases in the soil . In: Journal für Landwirtschaft Vol. 66, 1912, pp. 111–150, 197–222.
• Colloid Chemistry and Agricultural Chemistry . In: Fühling's Landwirtschaftliche Zeitung, Vol. 62, 1913, pp. 1–22.
• Soil and soil formation from a colloid chemical perspective . Verlag Theodor Steinkopff Dresden 1918; unchanged new editions ibid. 1921, 1924, 1927, 1929 a. 1931.
• The scientific basis of pig feeding . In: Swiss Agricultural Monthly Issues Vol. 2, 1924, pp. 97-104, 125-133, 144-146.
• Instructions for the quantitative agricultural chemistry internship . With the participation of Hans Jenny. Verlag Gebr. Borntraeger Berlin 1926. - 2nd edition, revised by Hans Pallmann, ibid. 1938 = Collection of scientific internships vol. 12.
• Some basic considerations and experiments for the physiological assessment of the feed based on the fat and meat deposits on the animals. Proposal for an expansion of the strength value theory (after experiments in collaboration with F. von Grüningen). Verlag Schaper Hannover = Work of the German Society for Breeding Science H. 63.

literature

• H. Pallmann: Georg Wiegner † . In: Kolloid-Zeitschrift Vol. 77, 1936, pp. 1-11 (with picture and list of publications).
• M. Düggeli: Dr. phil. and Dr. med. vet. hc Georg Wiegner. Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the Eidgen. Technical University of Zurich . In: Swiss Agricultural Monthly Issues Vol. 14, 1936, pp. 125-134 (with picture and list of publications).
• F. Scheffer: Georg Wiegner on his 70th birthday, * April 20, 1883 - † April 14, 1936 . In: Journal of Plant Nutrition, Fertilization, Bodenkunde Vol. 61 (106), 1953, before p. 1 (with picture).
• Hans Sticher: Georg Wiegner (1883–1936) - a pioneer of basic soil science . In: Publication series Institute for Plant Nutrition and Soil Science No. 78 (Personalities of Soil Science I. Edited by Hans-Peter Blume & Rainer Horn), 2008, pp. 17–36 (with picture and list of publications).

Web links

Wikisource: Georg Wiegner  - Sources and full texts

• Juri Auderset: Georg Wiegner. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .