Gerhard Rheinheimer

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Gerhard Rheinheimer (1967)

Gerhard Wilhelm Rheinheimer (born July 10, 1927 in Heilbronn ; † May 2, 2015 in Altenholz near Kiel ) was a German microbiologist .

Career

Rheinheimer studied biology and chemistry in Hamburg from 1949 to 1955 . In 1954 he wrote a diploma thesis on "Ecological investigations in coniferous forests near Hamburg with special consideration of the mosses " with Heinz Ellenberg , this was continued and expanded to the doctoral thesis "On the locations of moss vegetation in coniferous forests near Hamburg" ( doctorate 1956). Then he got a project position with Horst Engel in the microbiological department of the State Institute for General Botany. There he carried out microbiological examinations of the Elbe and made regular trips on the Elbe from Schnackenburg to Hamburg and Cuxhaven . In particular, he examined the role of bacteria in the metabolism of substances in the river. The most interesting result was the finding that the nitrite that occurs in the water below Hamburg in the warm season is caused by bacteriological processes ( nitrification and denitrification ) and not, as previously assumed, by chemical processes. From 1958 to 1960 he worked at the Federal Research Institute for Forestry and Wood Management in Reinbek . From 1961 to 1964 he was a scientific assistant at Horst Engel in Hamburg, where he dealt with aquatic microbiology and carried out studies on the role of bacteria in the nitrogen cycle and the influence of temperature on bacterial transformations in flowing water. In 1964 he qualified as a professor in Hamburg for the subject of microbiology. He then went to the Institute for Marine Science in Kiel as head of the marine microbiology department and was appointed professor there in 1967. In 1965 he took part in the international Indian Ocean expedition with the research vessel Meteor . In the following years he undertook microbiological studies in the Baltic and North Seas and in rivers and carried out work on marine pollution. He examined above all the bacterial degradation of organic substances in river and sea water and examined the self-purification of the waters. In 1971 the textbook Microbiology of Waters was published (5th edition 1991, four English editions, two Polish, one Spanish). In the 1980s he made trips with the research vessel Poseidon to the northern Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic, the Azores and Portugal, where he established a collaboration with the University of Faro . In 1992 he retired. 1996 Oceanography of the Baltic Sea appeared .

Gerhard Rheinheimer is the father of the historian Martin Rheinheimer .

Publications (selection)

  • Microbiology of waters . Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-437-30119-5 (5th revised edition 1991).
  • Oceanography of the Baltic Sea . 2nd edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1996, ISBN 3-540-59351-9 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rheinheimer, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rheinheimer, Gerhard Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German microbiologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Heilbronn
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 2015
Place of death Altenholz near Kiel