Manfred Hühn

Manfred Hühn

Manfred Hühn (born August 12, 1940 in Heckholzhausen near Weilburg an der Lahn ) is a German agricultural scientist . From 1972 to 2005 he taught plant breeding and genetics at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . His research focuses on the mathematical and statistical basics of plant breeding, genetics and plant cultivation, with population-genetic and quantitative-genetic issues in the center.

Life

Manfred Hühn, son of a medium-sized entrepreneur, attended elementary school in his place of birth from 1947 and from 1951 to 1960 the Philippinum grammar school in Weilburg an der Lahn. After high school , he began a study of mathematics with a minor in physics for grammar school education at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt / Main . The state examination (1966) was followed from 1967 to 1972 as a scientific employee (in the field of population genetics and biometrics ) at the Institute for Forest Genetics and Forest Plant Breeding in Schmalenbeck (near Ahrensburg ) of the Federal Research Institute for Forestry and Wood Management in Reinbek (near Hamburg ). During this time, Hühn mainly worked on competition problems in crop stocks. In 1971 he was at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the Technical University of Hannover with the dissertation studies the competition between different genotypes in plant canopies Dr. rer. nat. PhD.

In the following year (1972) Hühn completed his habilitation at the Agricultural Faculty of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel with the thesis Population Genetic Investigations for Phenotypic Selection in Competitive Plants and received the Venia Legendi for the subject “ Plant Breeding , especially Population Genetics ”. In the same year he moved to Kiel University. Since then he has represented the fields of plant breeding, quantitative genetics and population genetics at the Institute for Plant Cultivation and Plant Breeding of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at this university - initially as a lecturer, from 1975 as professor . In 2005 he retired.

Teaching and Research

Hühn conducted lectures, seminars and practical exercises in the fields of plant breeding (population and quantitative genetic principles, general breeding methodology) and genetics at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . He was one of the few agricultural scientists who simultaneously offered and carried out interdisciplinary courses on general philosophical and epistemological issues.

The latter activities resulted in four book publications within a decade : “ May we do what we can? Critical comments from a natural scientist ”(1996),“ University and educational mission. Reality or Farce? "(2000)," Food for thought. Comments on selected philosophical and epistemological questions ”(2003) and“ Food for thought and reflections. Thoughtful and entertaining forays into selected philosophical and epistemological questions ”(2007). Additional considerations on these topics and fundamental thoughts on the "question of meaning" can be found in his "Farewell Lecture" published in 2005.

Since Hühn was a cross-border commuter between mathematics and biology , genetics and plant breeding , his interdisciplinary thinking and acting is also reflected in his main research areas. Investigations of the population-genetic and quantitative-genetic basis of plant breeding (with special consideration of the general breeding methodology) as well as contributions to the further development of the mathematical and statistical approaches to the description and analysis of plant breeding (especially breeding methodological) and plant cultivation issues were the focus.

These research activities include studies on the quantitative recording of competition in plant stocks , the creation and evaluation of mixture experiments (especially clone mixtures ), analyzes of genotype x environmental interactions and quantitative recording of phenotypic stability (yield security), studies of yield security with the help of yield components , characterization of Quotient characteristics (e.g. harvest index or grain / straw ratio in the case of grain), breeding methodical dimensioning problems , analysis of irregular plant distributions in fields and theoretical contributions to coupling analysis .

In addition to these plant breeding, plant cultivation and genetic problems, Hühn always worked on general statistical and biometric-methodological questions during his work as a university lecturer. All of his research activities resulted in around 260 publications , most of which Hühn published in international specialist journals.

Publications (selection)

• Food for thought and reflections. Thoughtful and entertaining forays into selected philosophical and epistemological questions . Shaker Verlag Aachen 2007.

literature

• Greetings and lectures on the farewell to Professor Dr. Manfred Hühn on July 1, 2005 . In: Lectures on the farewell of Prof. Dr. C.-H. Hemp, Prof. Dr. M. Hühn, Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. E. Kalm and on the honorary doctorate of Prof. Dr. Dr. hc KH Hartge = series of publications by the Faculty of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Kiel, issue 107, 2005, pp. 83-139.