Wilhelm Krüger (agricultural chemist)

Wilhelm Krüger (born November 21, 1857 in Bornsen near Uelzen , † February 10, 1947 in Bernburg ) was a German agricultural chemist . From 1905 to 1930 he headed the Anhalt research station in Bernburg . He worked out the essential basics for proper fertilization of sugar beet . Even as a describer of algae and fungi , he made a name for itself: Its botanical and mycological author abbreviation is " W.Krüger ".

Live and act

Wilhelm Krüger, son of a farmer, studied agriculture at the University of Halle (Saale) from 1876 to 1880 and then worked as an agriculture teacher in Saxony. In 1883 he received his doctorate from the University of Freiburg (Breisgau) with a dissertation on the seeds of beetroot . In 1884 he got a job at the Agricultural Chemical Research Station in Halle (Saale).

In 1886, on behalf of the government of the Netherlands, Krüger founded a test station for sugar cane on the island of Java . He headed this station for six years and promoted the cultivation of sugar cane on Java with his research work. In 1892 he returned to Germany. He summarized the scientific results of his work on Java in the book Das Zuckerrohr und seine Kultur , published in 1899, with special consideration of the conditions and studies on Java . For decades it was considered the standard work on sugar cane cultivation.

In 1897 Krüger took over the management of the bacteriology department at the agricultural-chemical experimental station in Halle (Saale). Here he succeeded in discovering nitrogen-collecting bacteria ( Azotobacter ) living free in the soil . In 1905 he was appointed director and professor of the Anhalt research station in Bernburg as the successor to Hermann Wilfarth . He headed this station until 1930.

Krüger's main research focus in Bernburg was the nutritional physiology of sugar beet . Together with Gustav Wimmer , his successor in office, he developed the essential principles for fertilizing sugar beet that are still valid today . Krüger published many of his articles in the magazine of the Association of the German Sugar Industry . Noteworthy for the history of science is his lecture on the life's work of Hermann Hellriegel, given in 1909 in the “Klub der Landwirte zu Berlin” and later published .

Fonts

• The development history, value determination and breeding of beetroot seeds. Dissertation. University of Freiburg 1883. Schönfeld, Dresden 1884.
• The sugar cane and its culture. With special consideration of the conditions and investigations on Java. Schallehn & Wollbrück, Magdeburg and Vienna 1899.
• In memory of Hermann Hellriegels. Lecture given in the Club of Farmers in Berlin on February 16, 1909. In: News from the Club of Farmers in Berlin, vol. 1909, pp. 4908–4912 and 4929–4931.
• with Gustav Wimmer: On the cause and prevention of dry spot disease in oats. Communications from the Ducal Anhalt Research Station in Bernburg, issue 52, 1914. In: Journal of the Association of the German Sugar Industry, Vol. 64, issue 704, 1914.
• Nutritional conditions, cultivation, fertilization and diseases of the sugar beet. Information from the Anhalt Research Station in Bernburg, H. 60–65, 1927.

literature

• Paul Krische: Pictures of the lives of outstanding agricultural chemists and their research facilities: Wilhelm Krüger and the Anhalt Research Station in Bernburg. In: The nutrition of the plant, vol. 24, 1928, pp. 19-23 (with picture and list of publications).
• Professor Dr. Kruger. For his 80th birthday. In: Centralblatt für die Zuckerindustrie vol. 45, 1937, p. 1001.
• Hans Lüdecke : On the 100th birthday of Professor Dr. Wilhelm Kruger . In: Zeitschrift für die Zuckerindustrie Vol. 7, 1957, p. 561 (with picture).