Theodor Remy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodor Remy (born April 5, 1868 at the Bruckmannshof in Vynen , Moers district ; † December 30, 1946 at the Palmersdorfer Hof near Brühl ) was a German crop scientist .

Life path

Remy comes from a long-established farming family. He completed a six-year apprenticeship on his parents' farm and studied from 1891 to 1893 at the Agricultural Academy in Bonn-Poppelsdorf . Then he moved to the Agricultural Institute of the University of Göttingen , where he carried out research on the nutrient uptake of agricultural crops as a doctoral student and assistant to Georg Liebscher . More precisely: " From April 1894 up to and including December 1895 ", said Minister of Agriculture Ernst von Hammerstein-Loxten to Kaiser and König, " he worked as an assistant at the agricultural institute of the University of Göttingen ". Since Remy, as a non-high school graduate, was not admitted to the doctoral examination at the University of Göttingen, he submitted his dissertation to the University of Kiel . In 1896 he was there with the work " The course of nutrient uptake and the fertilizer needs of rye " to the Dr. phil. PhD.

In 1896 Remy took on an assistant position at the Institute for Fermentation Trade at the Agricultural University in Berlin . From then on, studies to improve the quality of brewing barley and hops were the focus of his activities. He was particularly interested in the problems of proper fertilization . One of his publications from this period is the text “ Investigations on the need for potash fertilization of barley ” published in 1898 . This work and other physiologically oriented publications in specialist journals paved the way for his habilitation , which was concluded in 1899 with a trial lecture on the chemistry and morphology of the hop inflorescence.

From 1901 to 1905 Remy was professor and director of the newly founded Institute for Experiments and Bacteriology at the Agricultural University in Berlin. During this time he dealt with research on nitrogen fixation in legumes and with methodological questions of soil bacteriology . In 1905 he followed a call to the Agricultural Academy Bonn-Poppelsdorf . He took over the professorship for soil and crop science and the management of the institute of the same name. Here he worked until his retirement in 1935. In November 1933 he was one of the signatories of the professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist state at German universities and colleges .

Research priorities

During his thirty years of teaching and research in Bonn-Poppelsdorf, Remy was responsible for the entire field of plant production theory. At the same time, he worked in close cooperation with agricultural organizations directly in plant cultivation practice. He soon devoted himself to the topics that from then on were the focus of his life's work: potato growing and sugar beet growing . In the numerous potato variety tests that he carried out, the problem of " potato degradation " , which was still unsolved at the time, was the central research topic. In 1909 Remy published a widely acclaimed monograph on the potato. A completely revised edition was published in 1928 as the “ Handbuch des Kartoffelbaues ”. This second edition was regarded as the authoritative standard work on potato growing in Germany until after the Second World War.

Remy made significant contributions in the field of sugar beet research with his efforts to improve the methodology of variety trials. Of his publications on sugar beets, the text published in 1924 entitled " On the situation of sugar beet growing with proposals for its modern technical design and targeted promotion " is particularly noteworthy . It is thanks to Remy's initiative that in 1925 a “sugar beet testing center of the Agricultural Association for Rhine Prussia” was set up.

Remy in Bonn-Poppelsdorf also continued to deal with questions of nutrient uptake , especially with physiological problems of potash fertilization . His investigations into the importance of the “ origin value ” for the quality of clover and grass seeds were groundbreaking for Rhenish plant breeding , after he had clearly demonstrated the high yield of “indigenous” seeds in numerous tests. At his instigation, the "Rheinische Kleesaatbau-Vereinigung" was founded in 1911, one of the first organizations of this kind in Germany. As a plant breeder orientated towards the requirements of the practice, Remy worked successfully with forage plants . Several varieties approved in trade bore his name (e.g. Remys red clover , Remys Altmarker giant turnip ).

Remy's services to crop science have repeatedly received the highest recognition. In 1925 Remy became a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina zu Halle / Saale , in 1930 the Agricultural University in Berlin awarded him an honorary doctorate and in 1943 he received the Goethe Medal for Art and Science .

Most important writings

  • Investigations into the need for potash fertilization in barley . Published by Paul Parey Berlin 1898.
  • The potato cultivation. The meaning, history, culture, storage and use of our most important root crops . Published by Paul Parey Berlin 1909. A second completely revised edition under the title Handbuch des Kartoffelbaues was published in 1928 by the same publisher.
  • On the situation of sugar beet cultivation with suggestions for its modern technical design and targeted promotion . Published by Paul Parey Berlin 1924; 2nd edition, ibid. 1925.
  • The sugar beet leaves in the light of our own experimental observations . Publishing company for arable farming Berlin 1937.

literature

  • Privy Councilor Th. Remy. † December 30, 1946 in memoriam. From his life and research . With contributions by A. Dhein, F. von Meer, J. Esser and F. Meyer. Private print Bonn 1947. 24 p. (With picture).
  • Otto Heuser: Theodor Remy † . In: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau vol. 2, 1949, pp. 180–181.
  • Ernst Klapp: Theodor Remy 1868–1946 . In: 150 Years of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn 1818–1968. Bonn scholars. Contributions to the history of science in Bonn. Agricultural Sciences. Bonn 1971, pp. 116-136 (with picture)
  • Manfred Fechner:  Theodor Remy. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 421 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 31929, fol. 108 BC

Web links