Theodor Roemer

Bust of Roemer in Berlin

Theodor Roemer (born November 20, 1883 in Pfrondorf (Württemberg), today a district of Tübingen ; † September 3, 1951 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German agricultural scientist . He is one of the outstanding representatives of arable and plant cultivation and plant breeding in the first half of the 20th century.

Life

Theodor Roemer was the son of a pastor. He attended the Karls-Gymnasium in Stuttgart. Then Roemer completed a three-year agricultural apprenticeship in East Prussia . He then worked as an administrator in a seed breeding company. From 1904 to 1907 he studied agriculture in Hohenheim and Breslau . From 1908 he worked as an assistant at the Agricultural Institute of the University of Jena . There he was in 1910 with a thesis in the field of plant breeding for Dr. phil. PhD. In Jena he met Frida Hoene, whom he married in 1912.

After completing his doctorate, Roemer went to German East Africa on behalf of the Reich Colonial Office . As an expert on agriculture, he founded a cotton breeding station there . After his return in 1912 he became assistant to Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna . This made him head of the Gregor Mendel Institute for Vegetable and Fruit Breeding in Eisgrub . From 1914 to 1918 Roemer was head of the plant breeding department at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Agriculture in Bromberg . During this time he was also part of the First World War. After the end of the war, he took on a job as a seed breeding manager at Strube in Schlanstedt .

At the end of 1919 Roemer accepted a call to the University of Halle and took over the chair for plant cultivation and plant breeding. As director of the institute of the same name, he initially worked here until mid-1945.

In March 1934 he received a reprimand from the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education for statements about the National Socialists that were not in their favor. Nevertheless, he joined the NSDAP in 1938 under pressure from official agencies. As part of the denazification process in 1946/1947 in accordance with Directive 24, numerous former employees certified that he had an anti-Nazi attitude and was only a nominal member of the NSDAP.

Before the end of the Second World War, he took care of the accommodation of the streams of refugees from the German eastern regions on the Mösslitz experimental estate near Halle. In this war his only child, son Martin, died.

In June 1945 he was deported to Darmstadt by the American occupation along with other scientists from the University of Halle-Wittenberg. He then worked in Bieberau and Hohenheim. In September 1946 he returned to Halle. His return coincided with preparations to establish an agricultural faculty. In the course of this change in the university structure, the Institute for Plant Cultivation and Plant Breeding, which he headed until 1945, was divided into five individual institutes (arable and plant cultivation, plant breeding, phytopathology, forage cultivation and culture technology). From 1947 until his retirement in 1951, Roemer was head of the Institute for Arable and Crop Production. During this time he was, alongside Prof. Woermann and Prof. Schmalfuß, one of the outstanding university lecturers at the faculty.

After his re-appointment to the university, Roemer founded the Theodor Roemer Foundation , from which u. a. Scholarships for gifted, financially weak students were paid. On the occasion of his 60th birthday, he had received the foundation capital (50,000 Reichsmarks) from the Reichsbund der Deutschen Pflanzenzucht to promote young scientists.

Until his retirement, Theodor Roemer was chairman of the central peace committee of the University of Halle.

Research services

Roemer's research focus in Halle was plant breeding . The work from his institute was above all trend-setting for resistance breeding . He also made significant progress in the field of quality breeding. In cooperation with several of his employees, he was able to prove that the baking quality of wheat is largely genetic. Under Roemer's aegis, new types of grain with high yields, high disease resistance and good baking quality were bred in Hall 22.

The Halle School of Plant Breeding, founded by Roemer, had a high international reputation as early as 1933. Roemer was a major sponsor of the German Hindu Kush Expedition , which was carried out in 1935 under the direction of Arnold Scheibe , whose participants collected seeds from wild and cultivated plants for scientific plant breeding. - Roemer was co-editor and co-author of the manual of plant breeding which appeared from 1941 to 1950 .

Despite his preference for plant breeding, Roemer always felt responsible for the entire field of arable and plant cultivation. He paid special attention to field testing . His first publication in 1920, Der Feldversuch, was groundbreaking for the technical implementation of field tests . One of Roemer's motto was: "Without a flourishing experimental system, there is no flourishing agriculture" . His idea of ​​establishing a close connection between science and practice by founding experimental rings met with a great response from farmers. Between 1922 and 1932, over 700 such test rings were set up in Germany to carry out fertilization, soil cultivation and variety tests. In 1933 the Reichsnährstand dissolved these experimental rings, but after 1945 this idea revived in the agricultural advisory rings.

In the field of arable farming, Roemer's main interest was the questions of tillage and soil fertility . In several overview articles he presented the current state of knowledge and the outstanding research questions in these central areas of arable farming. Together with the soil scientist Fritz Scheffer , he wrote a repeatedly published textbook on arable farming, which as Roemer / Scheffer has been a standard work in scientific agricultural literature for several decades. His most important publication in the field of special crop cultivation is the sugar beet cultivation manual published in 1927 . He published several articles on arable and plant cultivation in the two editions of the five-volume manual of agriculture (1929–1930 and 1952–1954), which he co-edited .

On numerous trips abroad, Roemer received various suggestions for his teaching and research activities. An eight-month study trip to the USA in 1925, about which he published a detailed travel report, was particularly significant for him . Further trips took him to the Soviet Union and many European countries. At the direction of the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture, he created cultivation plans for the areas of Eastern Europe from 1941 and was a member of the joint seed commissions with Romania and Hungary. In the years after the Second World War Roemer dealt with future questions of food production. His work, Problems and Long-Term Goals of German Field Economy , published in 1949, received wide attention .

At the end of his life Roemer dealt intensively with the teachings of Thomas Robert Malthus.

Roemer was a respected university professor with great charisma. The training of students and young scientists has always been a particular concern of his. During his more than three decades at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, he led more than 200 doctoral students to doctorate. Thirteen of his students or employees completed their habilitation at his institute.

Memberships

Scientific Associations

• 1924, Leopoldina (Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists), Halle
• 1935, Swedish Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Stockholm
• 1936, honorary member of the Swedish Seed Society, Svalöf
• 1937, member of the Physiographic Society, Lund
• 1937, member of the Society for Plant Breeding, Vienna

Scientific editorial offices

• 1925–1944, editor of the magazine Der Zuckerrübenbau
• 1925–1944, editor in charge of the special volumes of plant cultivation in the Kühn Archive magazine
• 1929–1934, editor of 10 volumes in Section A, Crop Production of the Scientific Archive for Agriculture
• 1930, co-editor of Handbuch der Landwirtschaft (5 volumes), with Friedrich Aereboe and Johannes Hansen
• 1931–1951, co-editor of the magazine for plant breeding
• 1939–1950, co-editor of the Handbuch der Pflanzenzuchtung (5 volumes), with Wilhelm Rudorf

Others

• 1932–1934, Stahlhelm Halle (until 1934)
• 1934–1939, supporting member of the SS
• 1938, NSDAP
• 1941, NSDDB
• 1949, Peace Committee of the University of Halle-Wittenberg

honors and awards

• 1918, Iron Cross 2nd class
• 1944, War Merit Cross, 2nd class
• 1948, Dr. hc from the Hohenheim Agricultural University
• 1950, Justus von Liebig Prize
• 1950, National Prize of the GDR III. class
• 1951, Dr. hc from the University of Leipzig
• 1953, unveiling of the Theodor Roemer bust at the University of Halle-Wittenberg
• 1953, Roemer Medal of the Grain Research Working Group in Detmold since 1953
• 1961, honorary colloquium at the agricultural faculty of the University of Halle-Wittenberg on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death
• 1964, naming of Theodor-Roemer-Straße in Halle-Trotha
• 1983, honorary colloquium at the agricultural faculty of the University of Halle-Wittenberg on the occasion of his 100th birthday
• 1996, Theodor Roemer Prize of the Society of Friends of the Agricultural Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg since 1996
• 2001, commemoration of the Society of Friends of the Agricultural Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death

Fonts (selection)

• The field test. A critical study on a scientific-mathematical basis . Publishing house Paul Parey Berlin 1920, 2nd edition 1925, 3rd edition 1930 = work of the German Agricultural Society H. 302.
• Observations in the Field of Agriculture in the United States of North America. Report on the results of a study trip carried out in 1925 . Publishing house Paul Parey Berlin 1926, 2nd edition 1927 = reports on agriculture. NF special issue 4.
• Handbook of sugar beet growing . With the assistance of A. Schaumburg. Paul Parey Publishing Bookstore 1927.
• with Friedrich Aereboe and Johannes Hansen (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Landwirtschaft . 5 volumes, Berlin 1929/30.
• with Fritz Scheffer: Ackerbaulehre Verlagsbuchhandlung Paul Parey Berlin 1933, 2nd edition, ibid. 1944, then continued as a textbook on agriculture : 3rd edition, ibid. 1949. After Roemer's death, two more editions were published by Fritz Scheffer and Otto Tornau: 4th edition ibid. 1953, 5th edition ibid. 1959.
• The breeding of resistant breeds of the cultivated plants (together with WH Fuchs and K. Isenbeck). Paul Parey publishing house in Berlin 1938.
• Problems and long-term goals of the German field economy. A basis for discussion . Publisher Paul Parey Berlin 1949; Zugl. in: Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau Vol. 91, 1949, pp. 265-297

Literature·

• Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg : Theodor Roemer on his 60th birthday . In: Journal for Plant Breeding Vol. 25, 1943, pp. 187-189 (with picture).
• Georg Blohm : Theodor Roemer † . In: Kühn Archive Vol. 64, 1951, pp. IV – XVI (with picture and list of publications).
• Otto Tornau : Theodor Roemer in memory . In: Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau Vol. 94, 1952, pp. 101-105 (with picture).
• Gustav Könnecke : Theodor Roemer and the Institute for Arable and Plant Production at the University of Halle . In: 450 Years of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Vol. 3: Halle-Wittenberg 1945–1952. Halle / Saale 1952, pp. 183–191 (with picture).
• Lilly von Nathusius: Theodor Roemer. Life outline and bibliographical overview . Halle 1955 = writings on libraries and libraries in Saxony-Anhalt. No. 12 (with a short biography and a complete bibliography of all of Roemer's publications, including the work of his students and assistants prepared at his institute).
• Paul F. Pelshenke : On the further development of Theodor Roemer's ideas . In: Kühn Archive Vol. 76, 1962, pp. 11-18.
• Werner Isbaner: Theodor Roemer - his work as a university professor and researcher, breeder and practitioner (1883–1951) . In: Conference report of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR No. 224, Part 1, 1984, pp. 13–28.
• Eduard Weber:  Roemer, Theodor Ernst M .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 726 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Theodor Roemer files in the archive of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Rep. 11, PA13184, Volumes 1–4
• Annemarie Griesinger: My uncle Theodor. In: Roemer commemoration on October 16, 2001 on the 50th anniversary of Theodor Roemer's death, Faculty Messenger 2/2001 of the Friends of the Agricultural Faculty of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, pp. 38–43
• Karl Karch: As a student with Professor Roemer. In: Roemer Memorial on October 16, 2001 on the 50th anniversary of Theodor Roemer's death, Faculty Messenger 2/2001 of the Friends of the Agricultural Faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg pp. 43–46
• K.-A. Lein: Theodor Roemer's 444-day interlude in the western zones (June 1945 to September 1946). Lectures Plant Breeding 83, 2012, pp. 23–35
• Friedhelm Herbst: Life and work of Theodor Roemer in Halle - additions. Faculty messenger of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg eV, issue 1/2019 pp. 15–16

Web links

• Literature by and about Theodor Roemer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Theodor Roemer in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Directive No. 24 of the Control Council in Germany (1946). In: verfassungen.de. Retrieved June 2, 2020 .