Michael Höllwarth

Michael Höllwarth (born January 10, 1944 in Tübingen ; † May 1, 2016 in Darmstadt ) was a German geologist .

Life

Michael Höllwarth was a nephew of Rudolf Höllwarth . He was born in Tübingen because his mother Mathilde, geb. Kunter had left Stuttgart due to the effects of the war , where the family actually lived. His father Paul Höllwarth was doing military service at this time. After the end of the Second World War , the family moved back to Stuttgart and Michael Höllwarth grew up in Weilimdorf , where he also attended elementary school. He passed his Abitur in 1963 at the Korntal grammar school . In the same year, the conscientious objector Höllwarth began studying natural sciences at the Technical University of Stuttgart , which he finished in 1969 with the scientific examination for the higher teaching post. Then he started working on his dissertation on the nitrogen balance of poplars with Professor Jeremias. In 1970 he married Annegret Höckel, with whom he had two daughters. From autumn 1971 he held an assistant position at the Biological Institute of the University of Stuttgart, and he completed his doctorate on November 6, 1973.

In 1974 he took up a position at the Institute for Nature Conservation in Darmstadt. The family therefore moved to Messel . Höllwarth worked at the Institute for Nature Conservation for about three decades; In 1983 he took over the management of the facility as the successor to Heinz Ackermann . In an obituary for Höllwarth it can be read that under Mayor Metzger, who was in office from 1981 to 1993, the institute was perceived as uncomfortable and Höllwarth as a "troublemaker". The Institute for Nature Conservation was finally incorporated into the Environment Agency. Höllwarth was appointed head of this office, but the practical analysis work was now outsourced to external companies and Höllwarth was only able to carry out scientific work to a limited extent. In 2004 he retired.

Höllwarth published mainly on pollutant studies, especially with regard to pollution in urban areas; also on environmental pollution in Sardinia , which he examined in cooperation with the TH Darmstadt . He was considered a practitioner who built suitable examination equipment himself as a doctoral student. A device for measuring photosynthesis and respiration rates in the field, which he had built in the 1970s, was in use at the University of Stuttgart until 2003. One of the results of the measurements with this device in the laurel forest of Tenerife once triggered a contradiction, but has now been confirmed by other measurement methods: The highest photosynthesis performance occurs when the sky is overcast and the air humidity is high.

Michael Höllwarth was a member of the Natural Science Association in Darmstadt and was initially its writer and in 1981 its managing director and editor of the reports. This also coincided with the task of planning and offering lectures and excursions. In 2012 he became chairman of the association.

Höllwarth was also a founding member of the Messel Museum Association in 1978 and became head of the Fossils Working Group . The Messeler Museum owes many of its exhibits to him. Michael Höllwarth took part in the fight against the plans of the country Hessen , the Messel Pit as landfill use. From the 1980s on, he conducted numerous tours of the pit and also worked as an excavation manager. Höllwarth also organized events for the Society for Natural History in Württemberg as well as teacher training.

In retirement he devoted himself even more to work for the Natural Science Association Darmstadt.

On April 25, 2016, Höllwarth tripped over a protruding pavement slab and fell. The injuries made two operations necessary, as a result of which he died a few days later.

literature

• Ulrich Kull, Michael Höllwarth. 1944–2016 , in: Annual Books of the Society for Natural History in Württemberg 172, Stuttgart 2016, ISSN 0368-2307, pp. 297–305.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Kull, Michael Höllwarth. 1944–2016 , in: Jahreshefte der Gesellschaft für Naturkunde in Württemberg 172, Stuttgart 2016, ISSN 0368-2307, pp. 297–305, here p. 299.