mortiz085

A new book titled " Friedrich Albert Fallou und the Begruendung der Bodenkunde " (Friedrich Albert Fallou and the Founding of Soil Science) has been published in 2013 as volume 33 (Heft 33) of the " Waldheimer Heimatblaetter ", a monograph series published by Waldheim, a town in Saxony, Germany. Friedrich Albert Fallou & the Founding of Soil Science F.A. Fallou (1794-1877) has been considered by several authors as the Father of Soil Science. This was the subject of an article I posted earlier on this blog . Unfortunately, this distinction has been wrongly attributed to the Russian V.V. Dokuchaev. For this reason, the prominent Russian historian Jarilow wrote in 1904 that "Fallou is one of humanity's forgotten best sons". The book  provides clear and strong evidence that Fallou founded the scientific study of soil. It was authored by two retired prominent professors, Prof. Dr. Heiner Kaden (Chemistry, Technical University Freiberg) and Prof. Dr. Han...

History is one of the most complicated and subjective academic fields since it is greatly influenced by the knowledge, experience, interest, and personal taste of the authors who reconstruct the history of a given event or human endeavour. It also depends on the availability and accuracy of historical records as well as on the degree of detail of the historical account. The renowned historian Norman Davies author of the book "Europe: A History" (Pimlico, London, 1365pp) wrote that "history can be written at any magnification. One can write the history of the universe on a single page, or the life-cycle of a mayfly in forty volumes." Thus, it is not unusual to read many different versions or revisions of the historical account of a past event. The history of soil science is no exception. Some aspects of it are still controversial such as the one about its founder. Although the Russian geographer Vasilii Vasilevich Dokuchaev (1846-1903) is widely considered as the fou...