Karl Scharrer

Karl Scharrer (born July 18, 1892 in Linz on the Danube , † October 14, 1959 in Gießen ) was an Austrian agricultural chemist . From 1937 until his death he was full professor and director of the Agricultural Chemical Institute at the University of Giessen .

Life

Karl Scharrer, son of a businessman, studied chemistry at the German Technical University in Brno , received his doctorate there in 1920 with a thesis on the oxidation of phenols and then worked as a chemist in a Linz factory. In 1923 he took on an assistant position at the Agricultural Chemical Institute of the University of Agriculture and Brewery in Weihenstephan . In 1931 he completed his habilitation at the Technical University of Munich with the widely acclaimed work " The iodine problem in agricultural chemistry ". In 1935 he was awarded the title of adjunct professor. In 1936 he took over the provisional management of the Agricultural Chemistry Institute at the University of Jena .

In 1937, Scharrer accepted a chair for agricultural chemistry at the University of Giessen . As a full professor and director of the Agricultural Chemistry Institute, he worked here until his death. After 1945 he made great contributions to the reconstruction of the agricultural university institutes, which had been badly damaged by the war. Between 1950 and 1955 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture five times in a row .

Research and Teaching

Scharrer belongs to the ranks of the important agricultural chemists who still represented the two main areas of their subject, plant nutrition and animal nutrition , in research and teaching. In the field of plant nutrition, the name Scharrer is inextricably linked with research into trace elements (micronutrients). In numerous laboratory and field experiments, he studied the causes of the different fertilizing effects of phosphates . He also examined the influence of fertilizers on the quality of agricultural harvest products. In the field of animal nutrition, he primarily examined the digestibility and usability of feed .

Scharrer has published over 300 articles in scientific journals and handbooks. There are also several independent publications . His most important work is the book " Trace Elements " (1941, 3rd edition 1955). When the students did not have any textbooks after the end of World War II, Scharrer published a series of publications entitled "Studienbogen" in which he dealt with fundamental subject areas from the fields of plant and animal nutrition. He paid particular attention to the history of agricultural chemistry. Several of his contributions on Justus von Liebig's work are noteworthy . In 1958 he began the preparations for a three-volume " Handbook of Plant Nutrition and Fertilization ". He still managed to win well-known co-authors for it. After his premature death, his successor in office, Hans Linser, took over the editing of this work, which was published between 1965 and 1972.

honors and awards

From 1952 to 1957, Scharrer was head of the specialist group "Soil Science, Plant Nutrition and Fertilization" in the Association of German Agricultural Examination and Research Institutes . This association and the Society for the Nutritional Physiology of Pets made him an honorary member . In 1957 the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Giessen awarded him an honorary doctorate . In the same year he received the Justus von Liebig Prize on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the University of Giessen .

Fonts

• Chemistry and biochemistry of iodine . Publisher F. Enke Stuttgart 1928.
• The iodine problem in agricultural chemistry . Habil.-Schr. Techn. Hochsch. Munich 1931.
• Trace element biochemistry . Publisher Paul Parey Berlin 1941; 2. rework. Edition ibid. 1944; 3. Completely rework. Ed. 1955.
• One hundred years of agricultural chemistry . Verlag Karl Christ Gießen 1941 = War Lectures of the Ludwig University of Gießen H. 4.
• Tasks of modern agricultural chemistry . In: Der Forschungsdienst Vol. 15, 1943, pp. 193-203.
• Biological cycle of the elements in the soil . Verlag August Lutzeyer, Bad Oeynhausen 1946 = study sheet B. 1.
• Soil division and soil mapping . Verlag August Lutzeyer Bad Oeynhausen 1949 = study sheet B. 11.
• Justus von Liebig and today's agricultural chemistry . In: Nachrichten der Gießener Hochschulgesellschaft Vol. 18, 1949, pp. 49–61.
• The biochemical basics of animal nutrition . Verlag F. Enke Stuttgart 1950 = collection of chemical and technical lectures NFH 51.
• Agricultural Chemistry . Vol. 1 .: Plant nutrition (1953); Vol. 2 Animal feed science (1956). Verlag W. de Gruyter Berlin = Göschen Collection Vol. 329 u. 330 / 330a.
• The importance of Justus von Liebig's research on agricultural chemistry for agriculture . In: Reports on Agriculture Vol. 31, 1953, pp. 1-15.
• Handbook of plant nutrition and fertilization . Founded by Karl Scharrer and Hans Linser. Published by Hans Linser. 3 volumes of two parts each, Springer-Verlag Vienna and New York 1965–1972.

literature

• Hans Linser: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Scharrer † : In: Die Bodenkultur Vol. 11, 1960, before p. 1.
• Hans Linser: Karl Scharrer in memory . In: Landwirtschaftliche Forschung Vol. 13, 1960, pp. 229-231 (with picture).
• KO Räker: Obituary for Karl Scharrer . In: Nachrichten der Gießener Hochschulgesellschaft Vol. 29, 1960, pp. 83–86 (with picture).
• Werner Höfner: Karl Scharrer (1892-1959) / agricultural chemist . In: Gießen scholars in the first half of the 20th century. Edited by Hans Georg Gundel, Peter Moraw and Volker Press, Part Two = Publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse in conjunction with the Justus Liebig University of Gießen 35. Pictures of Life from Hesse Vol. 2. NG Elwert Verlag Marburg 1982, p. 800– 808 (with picture).