Gustav Gassner

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Johann Gustav Gassner (born January 17, 1881 in Berlin , † February 5, 1955 in Lüneburg , partly also Gassner ) was a German botanist and phytomedicist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Gassner ".

Life

Gassner came from a Salzburg emigrant family. His father was the accountant Georg Gassner , his mother Luise Voigt . He attended the Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Berlin and then studied from 1899 to 1905 in Halle and Berlin first two semesters of theology , four semesters of electrical engineering and finally botany and natural sciences. In 1905 he worked as an assistant at the Agricultural University in Berlin . Here he received his doctorate in 1906 and then began as a scientific assistant with work on grain - mycoses at the Biological Reichsanstalt for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem . In 1907 he became professor of botany and phytopathology at the State University of Montevideo , Uruguay . In 1910 he returned to Germany and married Lili Fassier-Farnkopf, with whom he later had five children, four sons and a daughter.

First he worked as a scientific assistant at the Botanical State Institute Hamburg . From 1911 he taught at the University of Kiel , where he also completed his habilitation in 1912. From 1911 to 1913 he also worked as a private lecturer in Kiel . From 1913 to 1915 he worked as a private lecturer in Rostock . In 1915 he became assistant to a professor at the University of Rostock . In Rostock he held an extraordinary professorship until 1917. During the First World War , Gassner was head of a bacteriological laboratory in the German army. In 1917 Gassner finally became an associate professor for botany at the Technical University of Braunschweig . In 1921 he took over a full professorship and headed the Botanical Institute and the Botanical Garden. In 1926 he also took over the management of the newly founded Botanical Research Institute and became President of the German Botanical Society , since 1931 he was a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists - Leopoldina . He belonged to the German National People's Party (DNVP).

In 1932 he was elected rector of the TH Braunschweig. However, he soon came into conflict with the National Socialists , as he resisted their massive interventions in academic self-administration. His situation worsened in 1933 and he resigned. On April 1, 1933, he was arrested on the pretext of “having worked in preparatory work on highly treasonable ventures”. After his release in September Gassner emigrated to Turkey . In Ankara from 1935 he worked as an expert for the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and gardening director of the Turkish Plant Protection Service. In 1939 he returned to Germany and worked as the head of the biological research institute of Fahlberg-List AG in Magdeburg . Here he worked in the field of development and testing of pesticides. The most important field of work was germisan , a seed dressing agent based on organic mercury compounds. After Erwin Baur died in his office as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research on December 2, 1933 , Gassner was proposed "unofficially" by the Kaiser Wilhelm Society as Baur's successor. However, this was rejected by the responsible ministries.

In 1945 he took over a full professorship and the office of rector in Braunschweig. He remained rector until 1948. From 1946 to 1948 Gassner was one of the chairmen of the university rectors' conference . In 1949 he was appointed to the German Research Council, a forerunner of the German Research Foundation . His contribution to the establishment of the Braunschweig research institutes ( Federal Biological Institute and Federal Research Institute for Agriculture ) was decisive . In 1951 he retired and continued teaching until 1955.

Honors

The University of Göttingen awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1951 and on the occasion of his 70th birthday he was made an honorary senator of the TH Braunschweig. As early as 1936, the Montevideo University awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1951 he was presented with the large bronze plaque from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests of North Rhine-Westphalia . In 1952, Federal President Theodor Heuss awarded him the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his special achievements in the field of plant protection and for the benefit of agriculture.

Scientific focus

Gassner's scientific merits lie in the field of phytopathology and applied biology . He investigated smut fungi and smut diseases of cereals . In addition, the physiology and ecology of the rust fungus was another focus of his work. In addition, the numerous articles on germination physiology should be mentioned. He decisively improved the methods of seed dressing . His work on the development conditions of cereal species became groundbreaking for vernalization research .

Fonts

A total of around 200 Gassner publications are available. In addition to numerous articles in magazines, he wrote the book Microscopic Analysis of Plant Food and Beverage , which was first published in 1931. It was published several times and continued after his death. The 6th edition from 2007 was published by Berthold Hohmann and bears the title Microscopic examination of plant-based foods and feed: Der Gassner. ISBN 3-89947-256-X .; This volume was last republished in 2018.

literature

  • Hermann Grünzel: Gassner, Johann Gustav. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 , p. 204.
  • Kurt Hassebrauk:  Gaßner, Johann Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 83 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Kurt Hassebrauk: Gustav Gassner 1881–1955. In: Reports of the German Botanical Society. Volume 68a 1955, pp. 189-192 (with picture).
  • A. Hey: On the passing of Gustav Gassner. In: Newsletter for the German Plant Protection Service NF Volume 9, 1955, p. 80.
  • Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 197-198 .
  • H. Richter: Gustav Gassner. In: Phytopathologische Zeitschrift. Volume 23, 1955 pp. 221-232. (with picture and bibliography of scientific papers).
  • Anikó Szabó: eviction, return, reparation. Göttingen university professor in the shadow of National Socialism, with biographical documentation of the dismissed and persecuted university professors: University of Göttingen - TH Braunschweig - TH Hannover - University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Wallstein, Göttingen 2000, p. 562f, ISBN 978-3-89244-381-0 (= publications of the working group History of Lower Saxony (after 1945), volume 15, also dissertation at the University of Hanover 1998).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gustav Gassner honored with a bust in the Julius Kühn Institute Braunschweig ( Memento from March 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Grünzel: Magdeburg Biographical Dictionary. P. 204.
  3. ^ Anikó Szabó: Expulsion, return, reparation. Wallstein, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3892443810 , p. 562
  4. ↑ see Marion Kazemi , Eckart Henning : Chronicle of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. 1911-2011. Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-428-13623-0 , p. 182, there detailed references from the archive of the Max Planck Society.
personal data
SURNAME Gassner, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gassner, Johann Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 5th February 1955
Place of death Luneburg