Burger, Hans

Photograph

Dates

Hans Burger, February 11th 1889 (Bremgarten AG, Switzerland) – Oktober 31 1973 (Köniz, Switzerland)

Biography

Burger was born as the son of the farmer Christian and Verena Burger-Müller. From 1908 he studied forestry at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich and received his diploma in 1911. In 1917 he married Ella Wälty. After a short period of practical work, he joined the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Research (EAFV) in 1914, where he promoted his work on the physical properties of forest and non-forest soils. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in teaching and research, ETH Zurich awarded him the title of professor in 1943. In 1948 he was awarded the title of Dr. h. c. of the University of Munich.

From 1934 to 1955, Burger was Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Research (Eidgenössische Anstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen). From 1948 to 1952 he was President of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO).

Burger became an honorary member of the Swiss Forestry Association in 1943, the Finnish Forestry Society in 1949, the IUFRO in 1953 and the Accademia Italiana di Scienze Forestali in 1958. Hans Burger died on 31 October 1973 at the age of 84.

Hydrological Achievements

After the early death of his mentor, Arnold Engler, he took over the responsibility for the two pioneer runoff stations in the Sperbelgraben and Rappengraben (Emmental, Switzerland). He tested methods for determining the moisture content of fine soil and grown soil, volume weight, pore volume, water capacity, specific gravity and air capacity. For each parameter he tested different methods and suggested an optimal solution. For the extraction of the soil samples he used Ramann's proposed lancing cylinders, which he improved so much that they were later referred to as “Burger cylinders”.

Other lines of research of Burger included the differences between forest and non-forest fires and the influences of clear cutting, stock clearing, intermediate agricultural use as well as the use of forest gardens on the physical properties of forest soils. Although in his dissertation Burger had mainly dealt with the measurement and interpretation of the physical properties of soils and was convinced, "that the physical conditions of the soil and their investigation are in most cases more important than the chemical conditions", he saw the need for further chemical and biological investigations. Burger was thus an ecologically oriented soil scientist.

Later in his career, he promoted new longterm runoff observations in small forested catchments in southern Switzerland (Melera TI) and - shortly before his retirement - in the Flysch area of the canton of Frei-burg (Rothenbach, Schwändlibach).

Anecdotes

Burger had been instructed by his mentor Arnold Engler "to first subject the applied methods to a thorough examination, but not to lose contact with the practice, to always associate this examination with the solution of an important question". In his dissertation Burger fulfilled this task with remarkable skill both in the basic and in the applied part and found immediately broad recognition with his 1922 published work.

Reference Material

Sticher, H. (2001). BODENKUNDE UND BODENKUNDLER IN DER SCHWEIZ 1855 bis 1962 Mit einem kurzen Rückblick auf die Vorgeschichte. BODENKUNDLICHE GESELLSCHAFT DER SCHWEIZ SOCIETE SUISSE DE PEDOLOGIE DOKUMENT 11 ISBN 3 260 05452 9 Juris Druck und Verlag Dietikon. (Link: http://www.soil.ch/cms/fileadmin/Medien/BGS_Fachgesellschaft/BGS_Dokumente/BGS_Dokument_11.pdf)

Kurth, A. (Ed.). (1959). Festschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. sc. tech. und Dr. h.c. Hans Burger, alt Direktor der Eidgenössischen Anstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen, 11. Februar 1959. Mitteilungen der Eidgenössischen Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft: Vol. Band 35, Heft 1. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft.

Selected Publications

Burger, H., (1954). Einfluss des Waldes auf den Stand der Gewässer. 5. Mitteilung. Der Wasserhaushalt im Sperbel- und Rappengraben von 1942/43 bis 1951/52. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft.

Burger, H., (1937). Physikalische Eigenschaften von Wald- und Freilandböden. 5. Mitteilung. Entwässerungen und Aufforstungen. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft.

Burger, H., (1934). Einfluss des Waldes auf den Stand der Gewässer. 2. Mitteilung. Der Wasserhaushalt im Sperbel- und Rappengraben von 1915/16 bis 1926/27. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft.

Burger, H., (1933). Waldklimafragen. 2. Mitteilung. Meteorologische Beobachtungen im Freien in einem Buchen- und einem Fichtenbestand. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft.

Burger, H., (1922). Physikalische Eigenschaften der Wald- und Freilandböden. Birmensdorf: Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (PhD thesis).

Links

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Burger_(Forstwissenschaftler)