Rudolf Koblet

Rudolf Koblet (born February 13, 1904 in Heiterthal near Kollbrunn (Switzerland), † October 20, 1983 in Zurich ) was a Swiss crop scientist . From 1951 to 1972 he taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich .

Life path

Koblet, son of a farmer, studied from 1923 to 1926 at the Department of Agriculture at ETH Zurich . This was followed by years of study and traveling in southwest France and Canada. From 1929 he worked as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Agricultural Research Institute in Zurich-Oerlikon. Here he mainly dealt with questions from the field of plant physiology . In 1932 he received his doctorate at the ETH Zurich with a thesis on the germination of the Weymouth pine with special attention to the origin of the seed. In 1940 he completed his habilitation at the same university with an investigation into the material changes in the growing and ripening wheat grain.

In 1943 he was appointed head of the Swiss Federal Agricultural Research Institute in Zurich-Oerlikon. In 1951 he accepted an appointment as a full professor for crop production at the ETH Zurich . He worked here until 1972.

Research priorities

As a university lecturer, Koblet's research interest was particularly in the questions of tillage and crop rotation , but above all in the many unsolved problems of alpine forage production . Most of the dissertations prepared under his supervision dealt with topics related to the cultivation of fodder. The results from the work of his students and the contributions of his own research yielded groundbreaking findings for the improvement of management measures on alpine grassland locations.

Koblet represented the field of crop production in all its breadth. He always endeavored to integrate new findings from other agricultural disciplines and from the natural sciences into his teaching and research concept for plant cultivation. He has published several overview articles on key plant cultivation problems in the "Agricultural Yearbook of Switzerland" and in the "Swiss Agricultural Monthly Bullets". His textbook " Agricultural Plant Cultivation. With Special Consideration of Swiss Conditions ", published in 1965 and comprising over 800 pages, is one of the standard works in the specialist plant literature.

Koblet made particular contributions to Swiss agriculture as chairman or board member of several specialist organizations. From 1954 to 1977 he was President of the Working Group for the Promotion of Forage Production. He always maintained close contact with agricultural practice. The traditional Society of Swiss Farmers , founded in 1882 , made him an honorary member in 1982.

Fonts (selection)

• Investigations into the material changes in the growing and ripening wheat grain . Habil.-Schr. ETH Zurich 1940. Zugl. in: Reports of the Swiss Botanical Society, Vol. 50, 1940, pp. 99–232.
• Changes and problems in plant cultivation since the 18th century . In: Landwirtschaftliches Jahrbuch der Schweiz vol. 55, 1941, pp. 614–622.
• Crop production and soil fertility . In: Swiss Agricultural Monthly Issues Vol. 37, 1959, pp. 355–373.
• Agricultural crop production. With special consideration of the Swiss situation . Birkhäuser Verlag Basel and Stuttgart 1965 = textbooks and monographs from the field of exact sciences. Series of Experimental Biology Vol. 16.
• One hundred years of the Society of Swiss Farmers. Memorandum . In: Swiss Agricultural Monthly Issues Vol. 60, 1982, pp. 313–335.

literature

• Swiss Agricultural Research Vol. 3, 1964. Special issue for the 60th birthday of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Koblet . With contributions from various of his former students and employees (with picture).
• Prof. Dr. R. Koblet in memory . In: Swiss Agricultural Monthly Issues Vol. 61, 1983, pp. 285–286 (with picture).
• Josef Nösberger: Rudolf Koblet in memory . In: Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau Vol. 154, 1985, pp. 66-67 (with picture).

Web links

• ETH Library portrait of the month