Johannes Behrens

Johannes Behrens (born January 24, 1864 in Hildesheim ; † July 25, 1940 ibid) was a German agricultural botanist and phytomedicist.

Life

Behrens, the son of a factory owner, studied natural sciences at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1886 from the University of Kiel with the dissertation " On the anatomical relationships between the leaf and bark of the conifers ". From 1890 to 1898 he worked as a scientific assistant at the Baden Agricultural and Botanical Research Institute in Karlsruhe . In 1894 he qualified as a professor at the Technical University of Karlsruhe for botany with a thesis on the physiology of hops. As early as 1898 he received the title of associate professor. In 1901 he was appointed head of the newly created Baden Agricultural Research Institute Augustenberg . His research into plant diseases soon earned him such a reputation that in 1907 he was appointed director of the Imperial Biological Reich Institute for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem.

Behrens' research interests extended to the entire field of applied botany. His special care was given to viticulture and the cultivation and utilization of tobacco , hops and hemp . He worked on fundamental plant physiological problems, but also devoted himself to current issues of fertilization and developed measures to combat plant diseases . He published important articles in the field of agricultural bacteriology . In 1902 he was one of the founders of the " Association for Applied Botany ". From 1912 to 1916 he was chairman of this scientific society.

In 1919 Behrens voluntarily resigned from his office in Berlin-Dahlem, because as a scientist he did not enjoy administrative work. He moved to his native Hildesheim, where he wrote numerous articles on the flora of his closer home. However, he remained active in numerous specialist organizations. From 1908 to 1932 he was chairman of the special committee for plant diseases of the German Agricultural Society . In 1930 he was one of the co-founders of the journal Archive for Microbiology and until 1939 he was also a co-editor. He was an honorary member of the German Viticulture Association and remained unmarried.

Fonts (selection)

• Physiological studies on hops . Habil.-Schr. Technical University of Karlsruhe 1894. Zugl. in: Flora or Allgemeine Botanische Zeitung Vol. 78, 1894, pp. 361-398.
• Crops . Leipzig 1900 = Göschen Collection, vol. 123.
• Investigations into the extraction of hemp fiber through natural roasting methods . G. Fischer publishing house, Jena 1902.

literature

• Karl Müller: Johannes Behrens † . In: Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde and Infectious Diseases Dept. II, Vol. 103, 1940, pp. 39–42 (with picture).

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Behrens in the catalog of the German National Library