Eugene W. Hilgard

Eugene Woldemar Hilgard ( born January 5, 1833 in Zweibrücken, Pfalz, † January 8, 1916 in Berkeley, California ) was an American soil scientist, geologist and agricultural scientist of German origin. He taught from 1875 as Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Berkeley (California ) and has shaped over several decades, the development of the international soil science term.

Life and work

Eugene Hilgard Woldemar emigrated in 1836 with his parents to the United States and spent his youth on a farm in Illinois. In 1849 he returned to Germany and studied natural sciences with a focus on chemistry at the University of Heidelberg. In 1854, he was there phil with a dissertation on the gas flame of a candle to Dr.. doctorate. From 1855 he worked as a geologist and agricultural chemist in the Mississippi Delta, [note 1] there mapped agricultural land and examined their suitability for the cultivation of cotton. The American Civil War (1861-1865), in which he took part, interrupted his scientific activity.

From 1866 to 1872 Hilgard taught the art chemistry, and later geology and botany at the University of Mississippi. This was followed by two years working as a professor of geology and natural history at the University of Michigan. From 1875 until his death in 1816 he was Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Berkeley ( California).

At Berkeley, Hilgard established an agricultural experiment station ( Agricultural Experiment Station) and was soon the driving force, those oriented to the agricultural practices towards research institutions set up in all the American states. The focus of his own scientific work were studies on the etiology, classification, utilization and amelioration of alkali soils. Results of his research he published until old age in German language in German journals. For decades, he maintained close professional contacts with German agricultural scientists, among others, the acting in Munich Agrikulturphysiker Ewald Wollny.

Knowledge of the scientific soil science has summarized in a fundamental teaching and manual Hilgard. It appeared under the title " Soils. Their Formation, Properties, Composition, and Relations to Climate and Plant Growth in the Humid and Arid Regions ." The first edition from 1906 to 1912 was followed by several reprint editions in 1930 and posthumously a final emphasis. This work was for decades as an international standard work of scientific soil science and colleagues placed Hilgard in the series of the most important soil scientists of his time. Hilgard was honorary doctorates from the universities of Mississippi, Columbia, Michigan and Berkeley.

Publications (selection )

• Contribution to the knowledge of the sacred flame. Diss phil. Heidelberg 1854.
• Report on the Geology and Agriculture of the State of Mississippi. E. Barksdale, State Printer, Jackson 1860.
• About the influence of lime as a soil constituent on the mode of development of the plants. In: Research in the areas of agriculture - Physics Vol 10, 1888, pp. 185-195.
• A Report on the Relations of Soil to Climate. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Weather Bureau. Bulletin No.. 3 Washington in 1892.
• The beet crop on alkaline soils. In: The country wirth economic experiment stations Vol 45, 1895, pp. 423-432.
• Soils. Their Formation, Properties, Composition, and Relations to Climate and Plant Growth in the Humid and Arid Regions. The Macmillan Company, New York 1906; Reprint editions: 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1930.