Professor Fiedler 90 years

Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Wiley-VCH  (1/2018, in print)

In honor of Prof. Dr. habil. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans Joachim Fiedler, honorary member of the German Soil Science Society (DBG), on the occasion of his 90^th birthday
© TUD-IBS

On December 30^th, the ‘Nestor of Soil Sciences’ at the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) celebrated his 90^th birthday with admirable spiritual freshness. Professor Fiedler can look back on a long and fulfilling professional life. Through his extensive work, he made a significant contribution to the development of soil science from a basic agricultural and forestry-based discipline, to the integral part of modern environmental science that it is today. In particular, the globally recognized principle of ‘sustainability’ – highlighted by the UN General Assembly’s far reaching 2030 sustainability agenda – is impossible to consider without soil science and soil resource management. Given the multifaceted nature of soils, H.J. Fiedler was an early proponent of the importance of soils as an environmental medium and its decisive interface function for maintaining natural cycles. Professor Fiedler made it clear that the diverse nature of soils and their complex interaction with water and the atmosphere require site-specific approaches to their management and protection.

Hans Joachim Fiedler was born in Dusseldorf in 1927, and he also spent his school years in the Rhineland. At the end of World War II, he found himself in central Germany. In 1945 he began to study chemistry, physics, and mineralogy in Jena, where he received his doctorate in 1951 with honors. In Jena he also gained his habilitation in 1957 in the subjects of agricultural chemistry and soil microbiology. This was followed in the same year with the appointment as a lecturer for plant nutrition at the University of Rostock. In 1959, at an exceptionally early age of 31, he was appointed as Professor of Soil Science and Site Ecology at the then Faculty of Forestry in Tharandt of the former TH Dresden. Professor Fiedler then continued to lead this Institute until his retirement in 1995, and during this very long and turbulent time, he made an extraordinary impression. Regardless of the difficulty of both the material and organizational conditions in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), Professor Fiedler successfully established a modern and highly efficient laboratory at the TUD. In leading the research efforts of the Institute, he combined the skills of varying natural and forest scientists, with the common goal of establishing methodological foundations and addressing forestry practice and environmental protection issues in a manner, which was both scientifically grounded and interdisciplinary (which was anything but opportune under the political conditions of the GDR). Some of the critical contemporary issues that were addressed by Professor Fiedler and his team included the heavy metal pollution of the soils in the Freiberg region, and the forest decline (‘Waldsterben’) occurring in the low mountain ranges of the Saxony-Czech-Polish ‘black triangle’ due to the extremely high sulfur dioxide levels emitted during this period.

As a rhetorically talented teacher at the University, Professor Fiedler played a fundamental role in shaping several generations of students and graduate researchers. In addition to supervising a large number of graduating students, his more than 15 specialist books and more than 600 publications are a testament to his almost inexhaustible zeal. His great scientific contribution is also clear from his extensive collaboration with various scientific journals, both within the GDR and internationally. Although his contacts with colleagues in the other half of Germany and other western countries were made very difficult, or even outright prevented, until the political change in 1989, the reputation of Hans Joachim Fiedler continued to grow outside of eastern Germany. This high international reputation is reflected in his receiving several honorary doctorates, including from Munich in 1988, Trier in 1989, and Uppsala (Sweden) in 1995.

During the challenging period following the reunification of Germany, as dean of the then Faculty of Construction, Water, and Forestry (1990-1994), Professor Fiedler helped significantly to shape the process of self-renewal underway at the TU Dresden; both through his scientific reputation and through his personal integrity. However, some of his most far-sighted ideas – such as the faculty's orientation towards a platform for interdisciplinary environmental research with a significant involvement of soil sciences – were not feasible then; the time was not yet ripe for that! All the more, it should fill him with satisfaction that much of what he intended at that time has now been put into practice at the current Faculty of Environmental Sciences (after a ‘dormancy’ of two decades!). His commitment to the ‘International Environmental Management Training Program’ at the ‘Center for International Postgraduate Studies in Environmental Management’ (CIPSEM) has also paid great dividends. This training facility, which is run in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and UNESCO, has been in operation at TU Dresden since 1977. Professor Fielder not only made a significant contribution to CIPSEM in helping it to survive the political transition, but has also been responsible for the development of its curriculum and organization, and it now has a large network of graduates worldwide. Since 1990 the Federal Environment Ministry (BMBU) and TUD have co-financially supported CIPSEM. The recently celebrated 40^th anniversary of CIPSEM should therefore be a well-deserved source of pride for the Professor.

Despite his retirement, Hans Joachim Fiedler still continues as a positive force for the advancement of science. Among his activities, he is an honorary member of the German UNESCO Commission; he was appointed an honorary member of the German Soil Science Society (DBG) in 1993; and he is still an active member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig. Professor Fiedler still takes a keen interest in the activities of his ‘old’ soil science institute in Tharandt as well, and at the recently passed Christmas party, he impressed as usual with his subtle and humorous contribution.

His former colleagues, students, and friends; as well as all the faculty of TU Dresden, wish him lasting health and all the best, with many more happy years of life with his charming wife, who has always accompanied him with great understanding and active support. It is the privilege of the institute and the DBG to celebrate the anniversary of his birthday with an honorary colloquium on January 23^rd.

Karl-Heinz Feger & Karsten Kalbitz (TU Dresden), Georg Guggenberger (DBG, President)