Wilhelm Simonis

Wilhelm Richard Eduard Simonis (born June 25, 1909 in Neubrandenburg ; † September 13, 2003 ) was a German botanist.

Simonis studied biology, physics and mathematics in Rostock, Freiburg and Göttingen and passed the state examination in Göttingen with a physical thesis with James Franck . He then switched to botany and received his doctorate from Richard Harder in 1935 ( The dependence of the osmotic value on the soil water content in plants from different ecological groups ). After military service in World War II, he completed his habilitation in Tübingen in 1946 with Erwin Bünning , whose assistant he was. In 1949 he became professor at the Botanical Institute of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and from 1958 he was professor for botany and pharmacognosy at the University of Würzburg . There he was dean of the natural sciences faculty in 1961 and director of the university's administrative committee from 1964 to 1968, where he helped to relocate the university to the outskirts. He built up the botanical institute into an internationally respected research facility and established a further chair for geobotany (which Otto Ludwig Lange held first). In 1977 he retired.

Simonis dealt with photosynthesis and was one of the first in Germany to use radioactive isotopes to research them, among other things in in vivo studies on energy transfer during photosynthesis. He became interested in environmental issues early on, researched the effects of ionizing radiation on plant cells and the role of insecticides in the food chain and in plant cells (e.g. changes in the cell membrane).

He was an honorary member of the German Botanical Society . In 1985 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon. For many years he was a consultant on the progress of botany .

Fonts

• with Karl Paech: Exercises on the metabolic physiology of plants , Springer 1952

Web links

• Honorary members of the German Botanical Society, with photo
• Obituary in the Main Post
• Würzburg Wiki