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Friedrich Oehlkers
J.PlantPhysiol. VoI.136.pp.1-2{1990}
Friedrich Oehlkers This year we celebrate the 100th birthday of Friedrich Oehlkers. For more than three decades he was one of the three responsible editors of the «Zeitschrift fUr Botanik». He decisively influenced the development of this journal and its reappearance after the second world war, until the activities of one of his students, Josef Straub, led to its progression as «Zeitschrift fUr Pflanzenphysiologie», which in turn became the «Journal of Plant Physiology». This jubilee gives us the opportunity to share some memories of this outstanding man. He was born on May 6, 1890 near Gottingen, began his studies in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1910, and in 1917, after returning from the war severly wounded, finished his studies in Munich as student of Karl von Goebel. This relationship was more or less accidental and the further development of Friedrich Oehlkers' career was more influenced by his collaboration with the - at that time still young geneticist, Otto Renner, who introduced him to the essentials of the rapidly developing Mendelian genetics and acquainted him with the complicated heredity patterns of the genus, Oenothera. Both fields plant science and genetic kept him fascinated for his entire life so that he always felt himself to be both botanist and geneticist. He instructed his numerous students in both scientific areas, and in both he made noteworthy achievements. After his collaberation with R. E. Cleland, who came from the USA to Tlibingen where Friedrich Oehlkers was an associated professor at that time, he especially dedicated his research to cytogenetic investigations in particular the process of meiosis. The crowning glory of this research was the discovery of inducing mutations through ethyl urethane at the same time that Charlotte Auerbach demonstrated chemically-induced mutants of Dro· sophila. The plasmatic heredity of sexual differention of the single leaf genus, Streptocarpus, and a wonderful experiment on the distribution of the flowering capacity in the single, large cotyledon of Streptocarpus are further highlights of his remarkable scientific achieve-
Friedrich DehlkeYs Oehlkers Friedrich
ments. It is astonishing how Friedrich Oehlkers induced and described a whole series of morphogenetic mutants of the moss, Funaria hygrometrica, which contributed essentially to the stepwise genetic regulation of the process of moss development. All these scientific activities are even more remarkable in light of the fact that Friedrich Oehlkers, as full professor in Freiburg im Breisgau, was under considerable political pressure during the Nazi Regime because of his marriage to a jewish woman; however, he did not allow his will to achieve to be infrigend upon. He effectively committed himself to the reconstruction of the University of Freiburg after the war and brought about important accomplishments for the re-establishment of science in Germany, last but not least through his cooperation in the publication of several scientific journals. For students he was an honored and respected teacher, both in the fields of science and humanity. His
2
students are or were, employed at many universities in Germany in various departments such as plant physiology, genetics, plant breeding, biometry, human genetics and pathology. Better than anything else this perhaps proves the wide foundation that Friedrich Oehlkers was capable of mediating, including more the whole context «des Lebendigen» than single details. Also, the contents of this journal, which he edited for more than 30 years, show the clear lines of development that science underwent during his time and included many aspects of botany such as physiology of movement, cytology, ontogeny, morphology, developmental physiology, plant
metabolism, water relations etc. Several of his students are or were editors and co-editores of this journal. Friedrich Oehlkers certainly had a self-confident and head strong personality; he emphasized this independency in the way of handling science in general, so he wrote in the introduction to his textbook, «It was clear to me that my way of presenting the subjects of botany had some merits compared to how the procedures were usually handled.» Therefore, we would like to preserve his remembrance also in this journal. Martin Bopp
Friedrich Oehlkers This year we celebrate the 100th birthday of Friedrich Oehlkers. For more than three decades he was one of the three responsible editors of the «Zeitschrift fUr Botanik». He decisively influenced the development of this journal and its reappearance after the second world war, until the activities of one of his students, Josef Straub, led to its progression as «Zeitschrift fUr Pflanzenphysiologie», which in turn became the «Journal of Plant Physiology». This jubilee gives us the opportunity to share some memories of this outstanding man. He was born on May 6, 1890 near Gottingen, began his studies in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1910, and in 1917, after returning from the war severly wounded, finished his studies in Munich as student of Karl von Goebel. This relationship was more or less accidental and the further development of Friedrich Oehlkers' career was more influenced by his collaboration with the - at that time still young geneticist, Otto Renner, who introduced him to the essentials of the rapidly developing Mendelian genetics and acquainted him with the complicated heredity patterns of the genus, Oenothera. Both fields plant science and genetic kept him fascinated for his entire life so that he always felt himself to be both botanist and geneticist. He instructed his numerous students in both scientific areas, and in both he made noteworthy achievements. After his collaberation with R. E. Cleland, who came from the USA to Tlibingen where Friedrich Oehlkers was an associated professor at that time, he especially dedicated his research to cytogenetic investigations in particular the process of meiosis. The crowning glory of this research was the discovery of inducing mutations through ethyl urethane at the same time that Charlotte Auerbach demonstrated chemically-induced mutants of Dro· sophila. The plasmatic heredity of sexual differention of the single leaf genus, Streptocarpus, and a wonderful experiment on the distribution of the flowering capacity in the single, large cotyledon of Streptocarpus are further highlights of his remarkable scientific achieve-
Friedrich DehlkeYs Oehlkers Friedrich
ments. It is astonishing how Friedrich Oehlkers induced and described a whole series of morphogenetic mutants of the moss, Funaria hygrometrica, which contributed essentially to the stepwise genetic regulation of the process of moss development. All these scientific activities are even more remarkable in light of the fact that Friedrich Oehlkers, as full professor in Freiburg im Breisgau, was under considerable political pressure during the Nazi Regime because of his marriage to a jewish woman; however, he did not allow his will to achieve to be infrigend upon. He effectively committed himself to the reconstruction of the University of Freiburg after the war and brought about important accomplishments for the re-establishment of science in Germany, last but not least through his cooperation in the publication of several scientific journals. For students he was an honored and respected teacher, both in the fields of science and humanity. His
2
students are or were, employed at many universities in Germany in various departments such as plant physiology, genetics, plant breeding, biometry, human genetics and pathology. Better than anything else this perhaps proves the wide foundation that Friedrich Oehlkers was capable of mediating, including more the whole context «des Lebendigen» than single details. Also, the contents of this journal, which he edited for more than 30 years, show the clear lines of development that science underwent during his time and included many aspects of botany such as physiology of movement, cytology, ontogeny, morphology, developmental physiology, plant
metabolism, water relations etc. Several of his students are or were editors and co-editores of this journal. Friedrich Oehlkers certainly had a self-confident and head strong personality; he emphasized this independency in the way of handling science in general, so he wrote in the introduction to his textbook, «It was clear to me that my way of presenting the subjects of botany had some merits compared to how the procedures were usually handled.» Therefore, we would like to preserve his remembrance also in this journal. Martin Bopp