Hans Rotta

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Hans Rotta (born June 10, 1921 in Elberfeld ; † May 12, 2008 in Stuttgart ) was a German publisher , editor , editor and doctor of biology .

Life

Education and personal life

In his hometown of Elberfeld - since the merger with four other cities in 1929 a part of the new city of Wuppertal - Rotta attended the secondary school. After graduating from school, he was called up for military service in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War . He was used during the Africa campaign and on the Eastern Front . Short, temporary leave of absence enabled him to take up a degree in electrical engineering at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences . Immediately in the first post-war semester, Rotta continued his studies in 1946 at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen - this time he attended lectures on botany (among others with Erwin Bünning ), zoology (among others with Alfred Kühn ), chemistry (among others with Georg Wittig ), physiological chemistry (among others with Adolf Butenandt ), physics (among others with Walther Kossel ) and physiology (among others with Hans Hermann Weber ). Butenandt later wrote in commemorative publications on Rotta's 60th and 70th birthday that he had "never lost sight of his student at the time [...] because his interest in all issues that touched us was lively [...]." Rotta was a member of the Stuttgart fraternity Ghibellinia.

In 1947 he married Leonore Schmiedel, who was the same age, the daughter of the pharmacist, food chemist and publisher Roland Schmiedel . The couple had two children, Sybille (* 1948) and Christian (* 1953).

Career

In 1946, at a young age, he worked as a freelancer for Universitas - a magazine for science, art and literature , which was published by his father-in-law's scientific publishing company (WVG). He was to work as an editor for the magazine until 1967. At the suggestion of his professor Bünning, Rotta carried out extensive studies from 1947 to 1949 into diurnal processes in shoot and root vegetation points on tomatoes and field beans . This was followed by research on the influence of light on cell and nuclear divisions of the green algae Spirogyra . However, his increasing obligations in the publishing house then demanded a departure from experimental research. Together with the zoologist and chairman of the “Federal Nature Conservation in Bavaria” , Hans Walther Frickhinger (1889–1955), he founded the Natural Science Review in 1948 in the WVG . For these he worked as editor until 1999 - after Frickhinger's death initially under sole responsibility, since 1968 together with the botanist Roswitha Schmid from the Technical University of Munich .

From 1967 to June 1986, Rotta was managing director of the Stuttgart- based media group Deutscher Apotheker Verlag , to which WVG belongs, for almost 20 years . During this time he initiated several series of books , such as Große Naturforscher and books from the journal Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau and founded the specialist journal Cytobiology (now the European Journal of Cell) together with Wolrad Vogell , Gerhard Petry , Gerhart Drews and Karl-Ernst Wohlfarth-Bottermann Biology ).

further activities

Hans Rotta recognized the importance of scientific organizations early on and made numerous contacts. His broad network proved to be an immense enrichment for him, both scientifically and humanly, but also with regard to the economic activities of his publishers. He cultivated close friendships with some of Germany's most renowned researchers, for example Otto Hahn , Adolf Butenandt , Heinz Bethge and Benno Parthier . In an obituary about him should be noted that he particularly the academic relationships that during the time of the German division of Learned Society Leopoldina , very highly developed, since this company, despite all the political tensions provided a forum that Rottas "ideal of existing without statutes Scholars' Republic may have corresponded in particular. ”Between 1980 and 1990 he worked as treasurer of the German Oriental Society and from 1985 to 1995 he also held the same function within the German Society for Electron Microscopy . There he was also co-founder of the association journal electron microscopy in April 1990 . In addition, since 1951 he has regularly participated in the meetings of the Nobel Prize winners in Lindau . In part, he helped organize the event. Together with Roswitha Schmid, he translated many of the English-language lectures into German and published them in the Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau or other specialist journals.

He was one of the sponsors of the Biology Prize of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and was also involved - against the background of Germany's National Socialist past - for international understanding, balance and worldwide cooperation between scientists. For example, he organized the publication of the German edition of the book German-Jewish Pioneers in Science 1900–1933 by David Nachmansohn , which was published in 1988 under the title The great era of science in Germany 1900–1933 . Jewish and non-Jewish pioneers in atomic physics, chemistry and Biochemistry was presented by Roswitha Schmid. Rotta also sought dialogue with researchers who had to leave Germany in the face of anti-Semitic persecution - for example with Max Ferdinand Perutz , Otto Meyerhof and Hans Adolf Krebs - and had been a member of the board of trustees for the Otto Hahn Peace Medal since 1993 .

Memberships

Hans Rotta was a member of the following scientific groups and societies:

Honors

Scientific publications

  • Hans Rotta: Investigations on diurnal processes in shoot and root vegetation points . In: Planta , Vol. 37, № 3, October 1949, pages 399-412.

Remarks

  1. ↑ An engraving of a city view of Lindau made by Marianne Kiesselbach .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roswitha Schmid, Wolfgang Wessinger ( Ed. ): Nobel Prize Winners Review. Work, dates, meetings. Nobel laureate in Lindau 1951–1980. Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Hans Rotta . Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart , Stuttgart, 1981, ISBN 978-3-8047-0663-7 , page 655.
  2. ↑ a b c d Adolf Butenandt : "Hans Rotta for his seventieth birthday". In: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau , Volume 44, 1991, pages 226-227.
  3. ↑ "Known Ghibellines". Retrieved from ghibellinen.de on September 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c d e "Obituary". In: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau , Volume 61, 2008, page 291.
  5. ↑ Obituary for Hans Rotta. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 16, 2008, № 113, page 39.
  6. ↑ "In memory of Hans Rotta". In: Deutsche Apothekerzeitung , № 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Personal data". In: Electron microscopy , № 29, August 2009, page 33.
  8. ↑ "Personalia". In: Leopoldina aktuell , 07/2008, October 1, 2008, page 12.
  9. ^ "Ordinary General Assembly". In: Electron microscopy , № 4, December 1991, page 28.
  10. ↑ "Merits". In: Biologie heute , № 381, 11/1990, page 14.
personal data
SURNAME Rotta, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher, editor, editor and biologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 2008
Place of death Stuttgart