Wilhelm Simon (agricultural scientist)

Wilhelm Simon (born July 30, 1923 in Spornitz ; † January 1, 2016 in Rostock ) was a German arable and crop scientist.

Life

Simon came from a Mecklenburg farming family. He went first to the agricultural winter school, was 19 years for armed forces moved in, closed after the Second World War, the higher agriculture school Rostock as a land surveyor from. He then studied agriculture at the Rostock University in 1947/50 with a supplementary course in education. After a year and a half as a technical college teacher, Simon was head of the crop production department at the DAL Institute for Arable and Crop Production in Müncheberg / Mark from the beginning of 1952 . He also expressed his previously begun dissertation on Improved planting preparation by washing the potatoes to a conclusion with which he 1953 in Rostock at Werner Schleusener and Rudolf Schick Dr. agr. PhD .

Simon worked in Müncheberg for almost ten years. There, he initiated and continuously evaluated a comprehensive test program, particularly on crop rotation, at different locations in eight test stations for forage production and other problems. The results were reflected in numerous academic articles, including several books and the habilitation thesis submitted to the Humboldt University in Berlin in 1956 . In 1961 he was appointed professor and director of the Institute for Forage Production of the newly founded LH Bernburg. After her reshuffle in 1967, Simon joined the Institute for Grassland and Moor Research at DAL Paulinenaue , where he set up the arable farming department . He has continued the exploration of the Ackerfutterbaues, particularly the grazing of fodder plants, Ansaatverfahren of Rotkleegras and alfalfa , cultivation practices of Gerstgras and Zwischenfruchtbaues concentrated.

Simon retired from active service prematurely in 1983 for health reasons, but then dealt with sheep keeping in the service of landscape maintenance and with questions of ecologically sound land management.

Simon was a consultant for farming practice (which is why he was also called "The Farmer Professor"). He worked as a pianist and organist as well as a choirmaster, wrote poems for Plattsnackers entitled Willem vertellt , a series that comprises six volumes and has been published several times. He wrote his autobiography in two volumes: How I became a pacifist , My life as a landlord .

Honors

• Patriotic Order of Merit of the GDR in bronze
• Johannes R. Becher Medal in silver
• Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon

Publications

Simon has published around 600 publications, including 137 scientific and experimental papers, 150 specialist articles in the daily and weekly press, 57 brochures or larger articles in specialist books, 16 books, 5 agra educational films, 5 patent documents and various radio and television programs.

• The cultivation of alfalfa and grass clover with C. Lehmann, series d. DAL f. LPG, H. 47.1954
• Alfalfa, clover and grass clover , 1956, 2nd edition 1960.
• High forage yields through the correct selection of forage plants in main and catch crops . 1957
• Sandy arable soils, soil science, crop production, economics . 1960
• Practical instructions for setting up crop rotations . 4th edition 1967
• Catch crop cultivation - an important forage cultivation and arable farming measure . 1977

Individual evidence

1. ↑ report