Hermann Meusel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hermann Meusel (born November 2, 1909 in Coburg , † January 3, 1997 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German botanist and plant geographer .

Life

In 1930 Meusel began studying biology in Würzburg , and in 1931 in Innsbruck , Helmut Gams gave him decisive stimuli for his chorological research and a direction of vegetation studies that deviated from that prevailing in Central Europe. In 1932 Meusel followed the morphologist Wilhelm Troll to Halle (Saale). Meusel, who was interested in gardening from childhood, became a gardening assistant in the botanical garden. He divided its plant population into geographical groups and carried out his ecological-geographical growth form studies there. He founded the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mitteldeutscher Floristen" (Working Group of Central German Florists), under whose leadership from 1937 distribution maps of key species were created, which were ecologically commented on and viewed in connection with the entire area.

The comprehensive monograph “The vegetation conditions of the gypsum mountains in Kyffhäuser and in the southern Harz foreland” (1939) stands out among the vegetation studies. It was published as the second volume of the Hercynia magazine, founded by Meusel and Troll . With this thesis , Meusel completed his habilitation in 1941 at the University of Halle . After Troll had to leave Halle, Meusel rebuilt the botanical garden that had been damaged by the war, was appointed garden director in 1946, professor with full teaching duties in 1947, and full professor in 1952 and thus head of the newly created Institute for Systematic Botany and Plant Geography. Meusel was a member of the scientific advisory board for local research of the Institute for Geography and Geoecology of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and was co-author of the series Values ​​of our Homeland . From 1951 to 1971 he was also head of the Brocken Garden . Since 1952 Meusel was a full member of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin (DAL), later the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR (AdL).

In addition to his work at the University of Halle, the establishment of the Regional Culture and Nature Conservation section of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin (1951) and the management of the Institute for Nature Conservation (1953–1963), which led him to establish nature reserves in the different landscapes of the GDR made possible. From 1979 to 1992 Meusel was the editor of the internationally renowned “Flora” magazine.

In 1969 he was elected a member of the traditional Leopoldina . In 1973 he was elected a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences . After his retirement, he held several guest professorships in Austria.

Memberships in parties

Meusel joined the SA in 1933 and was accepted into the NSDAP on May 1, 1937. After 1945 he was a member of the SED .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b [1] (PDF; 1.5 MB) Obituary Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Austria 135 (1998): 381-384
  2. ↑ Neue Zeit of March 4, 1952, p. 4: “The German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin appointed six new members. These are National Prize Winner Prof. Fritz Oberdorf , National Prize Winner Dipl.-Farmer Franz Vettel , Forest Master Ernst Ehwald , Prof. Hermann Meusel, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Müssemeier and Prof. Dr. Johannes Reinhold . "
  3. ↑ see résumé under résumé in Who was who in the GDR?
  4. ↑ see entry about Meusel in Catalogus Professorum Halensis, accessed August 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Meusel, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Coburg
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1997
Place of death Halle (Saale)