Otto Appel

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Friedrich Carl Louis Otto Appel (born May 19, 1867 in Coburg , † November 10, 1952 in West Berlin , Zehlendorf district ) was a German phytomedicist . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Appel ".

From 1920 to 1933 he was director of the Reich Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem and developed this institution into an internationally recognized research facility. At the same time he organized an efficient plant protection service all over Germany .

Life path

Otto Appel, son of the businessman Ludwig Appel, initially trained as a pharmacist and began studying botany in 1890 at the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University . From 1891 he was a member and later an honorary corps boy of the Corps Frisia in Breslau .

In 1893 he moved to the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg , where he worked for Julius Sachs in 1897 with a thesis on plant galls to become a Dr. phil. received his doctorate . In 1898 he got a job as an assistant at the Bacteriological Institute of the University of Königsberg . In 1899 he accepted an offer to take over an "auxiliary worker position" (the name for scientific staff at the time) at the newly founded "Biological Department for Agriculture and Forestry of the Imperial Health Office" in Berlin. First he worked there in the botanical laboratory, which he had headed since 1903. In 1913 he was appointed a secret councilor. From 1920 until his retirement in 1933 he was director of the Biological Reichsanstalt for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem, which had emerged from the biological department of the Imperial Health Department . He played a key role in the re-establishment of the Association of German Plant Doctors, which in 1949 acted as the professional representation of phytomedicines under the name of the Association of German Plant Doctors. Otto Appel was its honorary chairman and at the same time the first member of what later became the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft e. V. renamed specialist society. In his honor, the Otto Appel Medal for outstanding achievements in the field of phytomedicine is awarded to this day.

Research services

Appel's scientific interest was particularly in the potato . Through numerous activities, he sustainably promoted potato cultivation in Germany. With financial support from the German Potato Growing Society , he founded a research institute for potato growing in 1919, which he managed until 1923. He later succeeded in integrating this institute into the Biological Reich Institute for Agriculture and Forestry. Appel published groundbreaking research articles on the prevention of diseases and pests in potatoes through the use of healthy seedlings . His book The Seed Potato, first published in 1918, was groundbreaking for agricultural practice . His successful attempts to combat burn diseases in grain were also important for agriculture .

As director of the Biological Reichsanstalt for Agriculture and Forestry, Appel organized the plant protection service in Germany in a pioneering role. He founded branches of this institute in many places within what was then Reich territory and assigned them special tasks. Through his activities he had a decisive influence on the 1937 law for the protection of agricultural crops . In an article published in 1919 on the future of plant protection in Germany , he called for chairs for plant pathology to be set up at universities in Germany. He himself held lectures as an honorary professor at the Agricultural University in Berlin since 1921 .

Appel was editor or co-editor of important works in his field. He co-edited several volumes of Paul Sorauer's Handbook of Plant Diseases. The pocket atlases , edited by himself , which deal with the most important diseases and pests of cultivated plants and were illustrated in an exemplary manner by the painter August Dressel , were for decades highly valued advisors in agricultural practice. Appel published two further editions of the successful book by Albrecht Conrad Thaers on agricultural weeds (first edition 1881) in 1923 and 1927. His contribution Plant Pathology and Plant Breeding , published in 1930, is still significant for the self-image of the agricultural disciplines oriented towards plant cultivation . He emphatically calls for close cooperation between the two specialist disciplines.

honors and awards

Honorary grave , Koenigin-Luise-Strasse 57, in Berlin-Dahlem

Appel has received numerous honors and awards for his successful work in the field of phytomedicine. The honorary doctorates from the colleges and universities of Vienna , Sofia and Berlin alone document the recognition of his academic achievements at home and abroad. In 1905 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy . On the occasion of his 85th birthday in 1952, he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the same year science and industry donated the Otto Appel Memorial Coin , which is still awarded today as the highest honor by the German Plant Protection Service to deserving personalities.

In 1992 the Senate of Berlin recognized Otto Appel's grave in the Dahlem cemetery in Berlin-Dahlem as Berlin's honorary grave . The dedication was extended in 2016 by a period of 20 years.

A private street in the Berlin district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf , not far from the main entrance of the Botanical Garden , was named after Otto Appel in 2001.

Works (selection)

  • with Paul Erich Otto Wilhelm Knuth, Ernst Loew, Herrmann Müller: Handbook of flower biology, based on Hermann Müller's work: "The fertilization of flowers by insects" . W. Engelmann, Leipzig 1898–1905, doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.23080
  • with Paul Graebner, L. Reh, Paul Sorauer: Handbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten . Paul Parey, Berlin 1909 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.21244
  • The seed potato . Paul Parey publishing house in Berlin 1918; 2nd edition 1920 = Landwirtschaftliche Hefte No. 35.
  • The future of crop protection in Germany . In: Applied Botany , Vol. 1, 1919, pp. 3-15.
  • Albrecht Conrad Thaer: The agricultural weeds. Colored illustration, description and eradication means of the same . First edition Berlin 1881. Revised editions by Otto Appel: Verlagbuchhandlung Paul Parey Berlin, 4th edition 1923, 5th edition 1927.
  • with Ernst Emanuel Silva Tarouca and Camillo Karl Schneider: Our free-range softwoods; Cultivation, care and use of all known conifers that can be cultured outdoors in Central Europe, including ginkgo and ephedra . 2nd, newly reviewed and probably edition, Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna 1923 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.45862
  • Plant pathology and plant breeding . In: Der Züchter Vol. 2, 1930, pp. 309-313.

literature

  • Robert Volz: Reich manual of the German society . The handbook of personalities in words and pictures. Volume 1: A-K. Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1930, DNB 453960286 , p. 31.
  • Hans Blunck: Otto Appel 85 years . In: Journal for Plant Diseases (Plant Pathology) and Plant Protection , Vol. 59, 1952, pp. 177-178 (with picture).
  • Bruno Huber:  Appel, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 329 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Maximilian Klinkowski: Go. Council Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Otto Appel on his 80th birthday on May 19, 1947 . In: Der Züchter , Jg. 17/18, 1946/47, pp. 65–67 (with picture).
  • Maximilian Klinkowski: Otto Appel (1867–1952) . In: Journal of Plant Breeding , Vol. 32, 1953, pp. 1-6 (with picture).
  • Wolfrudolf Laux: Honorary grave for Otto Appel . In: News sheet for the German Plant Protection Service , vol. 45, 1993, p. 72 (with photo of the tombstone).
  • Otto Schlumberger: Otto Appel's services to German crop protection . In: Festschrift to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Geh. Reg. Council Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Otto Appel, President of the Biological Reichsanstalt i. R. on May 19, 1947 . Dedicated by the Central Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem. Berlin 1947, pp. 1–2 (with picture).
  • Otto Schlumberger: Otto Appel 1867-1952 . In: Reports of the German Botanical Society , vol. 68 a, 1955, pp. 211–215 (with picture and list of scriptures).

Web links

Commons : Otto Appel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Weinheimer Verband Alter Corpsstudenten (Ed.): 100 Years Weinheimer Senioren-Convent. Festschrift for the centenary of the Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention . Association of Old Corps Students, Bochum, 1963, p. 137
  2. ↑ Recognition and further preservation of graves as honor graves of the State of Berlin (PDF, 205 kB). Berlin House of Representatives, printed matter 17/3105 of July 13, 2016.
  3. ^ Otto-Appel-Strasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
personal data
SURNAME Appel, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Appel, Friedrich Carl Louis Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German phytomedicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Coburg
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1952
Place of death West Berlin , Zehlendorf district