Werner Selke

Werner Selke (born February 7, 1901 in Rügenwalde , Pomerania; † September 18, 1971 in Hamburg ) was a German agricultural chemist, particularly in the fields of soil analysis , plant nutrition and fertilization .

Life

Selke studied natural sciences in Marburg and Braunschweig and earned his doctorate in natural sciences at the University of Halle in 1925 . After six years as an assistant at the agricultural control station in Halle / S. In 1931 he moved to the Agricultural Research Institute in Bad Lauchstädt as head of the agricultural chemistry department. In 1938 he was appointed head of this research facility.

With pioneering work on late nitrogen fertilization of grain, Selke completed his habilitation in 1941 at the University of Berlin . From 1942 he headed the newly established Agricultural Investigation Office and the associated agricultural research institute in Vienna . In 1945 he returned to his previous place of work in Bad Lauchstädt and, after transferring the research institute to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR , took over the management of the "Agricultural Research" department.

In 1955 Selke was appointed director of the "Institute for Agricultural Research in Potsdam". In the following decade, he expanded field testing in the districts of Brandenburg in an exemplary manner and carried out extensive fertilization tests. His book Die Düngung , published several times, was one of the standard works in the field of fertilizer theory in the GDR . Selke was a member of numerous national and international specialist committees. Because of his scientific achievements in 1956 the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR awarded him the title of professor. In 1960 his work was honored with the award of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze. He died during a trip in Hamburg in 1971.

Main work

• The fertilization with special consideration of their tasks and possibilities in the context of the reconstruction . Deutscher Bauernverlag Berlin 1950. - The following editions under the title The fertilization : 2. Erw. Ed. 1955; 3rd ext. Ed. 1957; 4. added u. exp. Edition VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag Berlin 1965.

literature

• Gerhard Specht: Professor Dr. Werner Selke, Potsdam, 60 years old . In: Journal for Agricultural Experiments and Investigations, Vol. 7, 1961, pp. 3-4 (with picture).
• Gerhard Specht: Professor Dr Werner Selke on his 65th birthday . In: Albrecht-Thaer-Archiv Vol. 10, 1966, pp. 77-87 (with picture and list of publications).