Hans-Joachim Elster

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Hans-Joachim Elster (born May 6, 1908 in Bernburg ; † September 10, 2001 in Konstanz ) was a German limnologist .

Biography and research content

Elster studied natural sciences at the Universities of Leipzig , Freiburg and Munich and received his doctorate in 1931 at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Munich. He wrote his dissertation in 1931 on Heterocope weismanni IHM., An interesting representative of the zooplankton in Lake Constance . During his studies he became a member of SBV Nordalbingia Leipzig in the winter semester of 1925/26 and of the Schwarzburgbund - Association of Burschenschaft Vandalia on the Loretto in 1927 . From 1931 to 1944 Elster was head of the Institute for Lake Research and Lake Management in Langenargen , where he carried out pioneering studies on production, stocks , fishing and yield in Lake Constance (1944). At that time he was already dealing with problems of the material balance of lakes and thus recognized at an early stage the important fundamentals of the later so important ecosystem research.

After serving as a soldier and being released from prisoner-of-war captivity, he headed the hydrobiological station for the Black Forest in Falkau , which had already been founded in 1946 and which arose from a private initiative (hence also called the Walter Schlienz Institute ). His habilitation at the University of Freiburg took place in 1951. Here he taught as a lecturer in zoology, limnology and fisheries science. In 1957 he became an associate professor, in 1962 an associate professor and in 1964 a full professor. He thus held the first chair for limnology in Germany and the station was consequently renamed the Limnological Institute . His research focuses on the lakes of the Black Forest and Lake Constance . Various research trips took him to Sweden, Egypt, Italy, Canada, Venezuela and Japan.

In the autumn of 1970, Elster and his research group moved into a new building that had been built on his initiative in Konstanz-Egg on Lake Constance (later, in 1981, the institute was incorporated into the University of Konstanz ). Elster retired in 1976, but continued to work at the institute for several years.

Elster was editor of several hydrobiological-limnological series of works, z. B. the (later renamed) renowned archive for hydrobiology . He was also a member of the Society for Responsibility in Science , for which he was strongly committed in his later years.

Charisma

Under Elster's leadership and charismatic leadership, the Limnological Institute in Falkau and later in Konstanz gained international renown in limnology and developed into the southern German counterpart of the Max Planck Institute for Limnology, which was then located in Plön (Schleswig-Holstein) . In the later years he was often regarded as the nestor of modern German limnology and indirectly had a significant impact on the teaching content and teaching staff of German-language limnology in the last quarter of the 20th century.

From the former assistants and post-doctoral students at the Limnological Institute from Elster's time, several limnologists and ecologists grew up who were active as professors in Germany, according to Jürgen Schwoerbel , who stayed in Konstanz until his retirement in 1995, Uwe Tessenow (1977-1997 on from Ulm University ) Hartmut Kausch (1980–2004 at the University of Hamburg ), Winfried Lampert (1980–2006 at the Max Planck Institute for Limnology in Plön) and Bruno Streit (since 1985 at the University of Frankfurt ).

Honors

Publications (selection)

  • Some observations on the behavior of the upper water layers of Lake Constance (Obersee) , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 65th year 1938, pp. 167-200 ( digitized version )
  • The Lake Constance ecosystem in the past, present and future , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 92nd year 1974, pp. 233-250 ( digitized version )
  • Human ecology and responsibility for a humane, peaceful future in the 3rd millennium of our Christian era . Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 978-3-510-65185-6

literature

  • Winfried Lampert : Professor Dr. Dr. hc Hans-Joachim Elster (1908-2001) - In memoriam. In: Archives for Hydrobiology. 153, 2002, pp. 529-531.
  • Jürgen Schwoerbel : Hans Joachim Elster, 1908 - 2001 . In: Communications from the Baden Regional Association for Natural History and Nature Conservation. New episode . tape 18 , no. 1 , November 5, 2002, pp. 299–300 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Goebel (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. 8th edition, Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 156, no. 3857.
personal data
SURNAME Elster, Hans-Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German limnologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Bernburg (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 2001
Place of death Constancy