Wilhelm Fleischmann

Wilhelm Fleischmann (born December 31, 1837 in Erlangen , † January 13, 1920 in Göttingen ) was a German agricultural scientist who mainly researched milk and dairy products. He is considered to be the founder of dairy science.

Life path

Wilhelm Fleischmann's birthplace in Erlangen

Memorial plaque on the birthplace

Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Fleischmann, son of a medical councilor, graduated from the humanistic grammar school in Nuremberg , studied natural sciences in Würzburg , Erlangen and Munich since 1856 and received his doctorate in 1861 at the University of Tübingen with a dissertation on the determination of the magnitude of gravity . During his studies he became a member of the Bubenreuther fraternity in Erlangen in 1857 . For several years he worked as a private teacher in Munich, where he also worked at times in the Justus von Liebigs chemical laboratory . From 1864 to 1867 he was employed as a science teacher at the secondary school in Memmingen in Upper Swabia . During this time he was also in charge of the agricultural research station in Memmingen.

Since 1867, Fleischmann was the principal of the Lindau secondary school and (until 1872) at the same time the Allgäu agricultural research station in the Immenstadt district . He repeatedly offered special courses on milk at the cheese dairy school in Sonthofen . Fleischmann was a founding member of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , of which he briefly headed the meteorological section. In 1876 he was appointed head of the first German dairy and chemical research station and higher dairy in Raden near Lalendorf ( Mecklenburg ). In 1882 he was appointed "Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Professor".

In 1886, Fleischmann accepted a call as a full professor at the University of Königsberg and took over the management of the Agricultural Institute there. In 1886 he founded a laboratory for the chemistry and bacteriology of milk at the University of Königsberg. In 1894/95 he was elected rector of the University of Königsberg. In 1896 he was appointed full professor of agriculture and director of the Agricultural Institute as well as head of the laboratory for chemistry and bacteriology of milk that had moved from Königsberg to the University of Göttingen . He worked here until 1912.

Research and Teaching

Fleischmann was one of the first agricultural scientists to recognize the importance of basic scientific research for cattle husbandry and for the dairy industry . To translate this knowledge into reality, he made his life's work. He developed new research methods, including a formula for calculating the dry mass of milk from its specific weight and its fat content. Numerous experimental work yielded new insights into the chemical composition of milk, as well as the bacteriological processes involved in the manufacture of dairy products.

With his fundamental research work, documented in almost 250 publications, Fleischmann was considered the leading milk expert in Germany for several decades and was the founder of milk science during his lifetime . His main scientific work is the " Lehrbuch der Milchwirtschaft ", first published in 1893 , which was reissued six times in revised form by 1932. Although he is an outstanding specialist as a researcher in the field of dairy science, as a university lecturer - following the example of Julius Kühn - Fleischmann has always regarded agriculture as an encyclopedic science. He not only gave lectures on dairy farming , but also on animal breeding , feeding theory , agricultural management , agricultural policy and, during his time in Göttingen, also on agricultural history . As an agricultural historian, he emerged with several writings on agriculture among the Romans.

Fleischmann's autobiographical notes were published in 1942 by Alfred Schuler under the title " Wilhelm Fleischmann: The Founder of Dairy Science. His Memoirs and His Life's Work ". This book with a complete bibliography of Fleischmann's publications is a notable document for the history of universities and science with timeless examples of the very human behavior of colleagues in academic teaching and research.

honors and awards

Fleischmann, a secret councilor since 1894 , was awarded two honorary doctorates : in 1911 from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and in 1918 from the Technical University of Munich . The following organizations made him an honorary member : in 1876 the Agricultural Association in Bavaria, 1886 the Agricultural University in Amsterdam, 1886 the East Prussian Dairy Society, 1895 the Royal Agricultural Society of England and 1912 the Dairy Association . In addition, he received, among other awards, the Knight's Cross of the Austrian Franz Joseph Order in 1876 , the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin Order of the Griffin with Knight's Cross in 1886 and the Prussian Red Eagle Order 2nd Class (1911 with ribbon).

In 2013 one of his descendants dedicated Wilhelm Fleischmann to a new bacterial species ( Listeria fleischmannii ) that was discovered on cheese.

Books and writings

• Determining the magnitude of gravity . Diss. Phil., Tübingen 1861.
• Chemistry and agriculture. To progress in the field of agriculture. Publisher Wilhelm Ludwig Lindau i. B., 1869 (=  agricultural lectures. H. 1).
• About the hair dryer and the disappearance of the ice age. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. 1st year 1869, pp. 130-138 ( digitized version ).
• Report on the activities of the meteorological section from December 10, 1868 to September 13, 1869 , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 2nd year 1870, pp. 93-95 ( digitized version ).

• The dairy industry. A book for practice and science . Vieweg Braunschweig publisher 1875.
• Psychrometer boards for calculating the relative humidity of the air in cheese cellars . Heinsius publishing house, Bremen 1877; 2nd edition 1888; 3rd edition 1895; 4th edition 1922; 5th edition 1931.
• The preparation of brick cheeses from centrifuge skimmed milk . Verlag Heinsius Bremen 1884; 2nd edition 1890.
• Dairy Farming Textbook . Verlag Heinsius Bremen 1893; 2nd edition, ibid. 1898; 3rd edition ibid. 1901; 4th edition, ibid. 1908; 5th edition. Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin 1915; 6th edition, ibid. 1920; 7. completely rework. Ed., Edited by H. Weigmann. Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin 1932. - Translations into English, Russian and Spanish.
• Modern agriculture in its emergence and Albrecht Daniel Thaer . Private printing Göttingen 1902. - Zugl. in: Journal für Landwirtschaft Vol. 50, 1902, pp. 113-139.
• Old Germanic and Old Roman agricultural relations in their relationships and opposites . Heinsius, Leipzig 1906.
• Caesar, Tacitus, Charlemagne and German agriculture . Publisher Paul Parey, Berlin 1911.
• History of milk and milk sugar. In: Sudhoffs Archiv 4, 1911, pp. 1-19.
• Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii Caroli Magni or the Landgüterordnung Emperor Charlemagne . Newly translated and provided with explanations. Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin 1919.
• Wilhelm Fleischmann. The founder of dairy science. His life memories and his life's work . Edited by Alfred Schuler. Publishing house of the Molkerei-Zeitung, Hildesheim 1942.

literature

• Conrad von Seelhorst: Go. Government Councilor Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Fleischmann † . In: Journal für Landwirtschaft Vol. 68, 1921, pp. 1–3 (with picture).
• Georg Wiegner: To Wilhelm Fleischmann's memory . In: The agricultural test stations, Vol. 97, 1921, pp. 261-292 (with bibliography).
• Obituary in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 49th year 1921, pp. XVI – XXI ( digitized version )
• Ernst Brandl:  Fleischmann, Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 235 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Bodo Pundt: The Raden Dairy Training and Research Institute, Güstrow district. An investigation into the personality of W. Fleischmann . Diss. Humboldt University Berlin 1970.
• Heinz Brandsch: Wilhelm Fleischmann (1837-1920) . In: Yearbook of the Albertus University of Königsberg / Pr. Vol. 29, 1994 (1995), pp. 679-689 (with picture).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ernst Höhne: The Bubenreuther. History of a German fraternity. II., Erlangen 1936, p. 187.
2. ↑ Harald Derschka : The association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. A look back at one hundred and fifty years of club history 1868–2018. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 136, 2018, pp. 1–303, here: p. 219.
3. ↑ D. Bertsch, J. Rau, MR Eugster, MC Haug, PA Lawson, C. Lacroix, L. Meile: Listeria fleischmannii sp. nov., isolated from cheese. In: International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology. ISSN  1466-5034 , Volume 63, Pt 2 February 2013, pp. 526-532, doi: 10.1099 / ijs.0.036947-0 , PMID 22523164 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Fleischmann in the catalog of the German National Library