Obituary for Prof. Dr sc. Eberhard Baumann
Prof. Baumann began his professional career at Humboldt University of Berlin in 1950. Key milestones in his academic development included earning his degree in 1955, completing his doctorate in 1958, and receiving his habilitation five years later. Appointed as a university lecturer in 1965, he took over the leadership of the Soil Fertility Research Division in Großbeeren in 1968. In 1978, he was appointed Associate Professor for Field Vegetable Production.
As a university lecturer at Humboldt University of Berlin, Eberhard Baumann devoted over three decades with great commitment to teaching in the field of field vegetable production. He played a key role in educating future generations of horticultural practitioners and researchers and also contributed to teaching in related areas such as crop production, food economics, and food technology.
As a scientist, Prof. Baumann was a pioneer in the field of organic matter recycling in vegetable production. He investigated, on the one hand, the decomposition behaviour and yield effects of harvest residues from various vegetable crops and a range of plant-based organic waste materials – both in soil and during the composting process. On the other hand, he developed indicators that could be used to standardise these organic substances with regard to their behaviour in material cycles – for example, their mineral fertiliser equivalent effect in plant nutrition or their humus reproduction potential, and thus their role in carbon sequestration in soils. His findings on the humus replacement effect of vegetable crop residues are today an integral part of the humus balancing guidelines issued by the Association of German Agricultural Analytic and Research Institutes (VDLUFA). Prof. Baumann was also involved in designing and implementing the long-term box plots experiment initiated in 1972. The data from this fertilisation field trial were only recently made accessible to the scientific community.
In addition to publishing more than 50 scientific papers, Prof. Baumann authored over 400 contributions in journals for gardeners and farmers. His work was widely recognised not only in academia and professional practice but also among hobby gardeners, especially through his role as (co-)author of textbooks and popular science publications for universities, vocational training, and schools.
With the passing of Eberhard Baumann, our institution loses a dedicated, esteemed, and farsighted colleague. His extensive and well-documented expertise will continue to inform our work, and we will honour the memory of Prof. Baumann with respect and gratitude.
On behalf of all colleagues at IGZ
Dr Jörg Rühlmann