Heinrich Walter (botanist)

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Heinrich Karl Walter (born October 21, 1898 in Odessa , † October 15, 1989 in Stuttgart ) was a German-Russian geobotanist and eco-physiologist. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " HKWalter ".

Life

Walter, son of a doctor, studied natural sciences and especially botany at the University of Odessa from 1915 to 1917 . In 1918 he moved to the University of Dorpat , where he studied with Peter Claussen . From 1919 he studied at the University of Jena under Ernst Stahl and Wilhelm Detmer , which he completed in the same year with a doctorate as Dr. phil. completed. In 1920 Walter became an assistant at the Agricultural Research Institute in Halle (Saale) , then with Ludwig Jost at the University of Heidelberg .

In 1923 he became a private lecturer at the University of Heidelberg and in 1927 associate professor for botany there. 1929–1930 followed a Rockefeller scholarship with the explorer of desert vegetation Forrest Shreve in Tucson ( Arizona / USA ) and with John Ernest Weaver , plant ecologist in Lincoln ( Nebraska / USA). In 1924 Walter married the daughter of the botanist Heinrich Schenck , Erna Schenck . In 1932 Walter became an associate professor and in 1939 a full professor of botany and director of the Botanical Institute and Gardens of the Technical University of Stuttgart (now the University) . From 1933 to 1934 and again from 1937 to 1938 Walter was on a scholarship on research trips to East and South West Africa . In 1941 a full professorship for general botany at the Imperial University of Posen followed , from 1945 the professorship for botany at the Agricultural University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim , where Walter retired in 1966 . From 1951 to 1955 he was visiting professor for botany at the University of Ankara / Turkey .

During his time as a professor, Walter had numerous employees and students who later worked as professors themselves, including Hans Haas , Maximilian Steiner , Erich Oberdorfer , Karlhans Göttlich , Heinz Ellenberg , Karlheinz Kreeb , Helmut Lieth , Wolfgang Haber , Helmut Freitag and Siegmar Breckle .

In 1962 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

Research services

On numerous research trips , most of which his wife accompanied him, Walter got to know almost all the vegetation zones on earth from his own experience and has summarized his findings and experiences in many books. The sometimes very extensive works have often appeared in several editions, some have been translated and almost without exception belong to the standard works of geobotany and ecology (overview in his memoirs). Walter made extraordinary contributions to the “ Climate Diagram World Atlas ” (1960–1967) published together with Helmut Lieth . The descriptive form of the climate presentation conceived here received the highest international recognition.

The memoirs of Walter ( Confessions of an ecologist , 1980, 6th ed. 1989) are an impressive document of the times and at the same time an informative source for the History of Science . In the final chapter of this book, he also deals with the relationship between science and art and takes a position on basic questions of scientific work.

Walter formulated the law of relative constancy of location with his wife, Erna Walter , in 1953: “If the climate changes in a certain direction within the residential district or area of ​​a plant species, a change of growth location or biotope occurs in this species, which causes the climate change is more or less canceled ”.

Fonts

  • with Helmut Lieth among others: Climate diagram world atlas. In three deliveries with around 8,000 climate stations (around 9,000 diagrams). Fischer, Jena 1960–1967.
  • Confessions of an Ecologist. Experienced in eight decades and on research trips in all continents with conclusions. Fischer, Stuttgart 1980. 6th edition 1989, ISBN 3-437-30605-7 .
  • with Siegmar Breckle: vegetation and climatic zones. Global ecology floor plan. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8252-0014-0 .

literature

  • Bernhard Rademacher : Professor Dr. Heinrich Walter 65 years. In: Karlheinz Kreeb (ed.): Contributions to phytology. Prof. Dr. Dedicated to Heinrich Walter on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1964 ( work of the Hohenheim Agricultural University. Volume 30), pp. 9–12 (with picture).
  • Bibliography of the scientists at the University of Stuttgart. Volume 2. Krauth, Eberbach / Neckar, 1976, pp. 1111-1124 (list of publications up to 1974).
  • Walter Larcher : Heinrich Walter. In: Almanac of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for 1989/90. 140th year, Vienna 1990, pp. 321–326.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Walter: Confessions of an Ecologist ; there p. 85 f; P. 181 f
  2. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Heinrich Walter (with picture)
  3. ^ German Society for the History and Theory of Biology: Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology. Volume 12. 2007, p. 164. ( online ; PDF; 4.3 MB)