Compiled by Herbert Kaltofen, 14641 Paulinenaue,

  • August 29th,1874: birth in Berlin
  • 1881-1895: Attendance of the French and Friedrichs grammar school in Berlin and the grammar school in Friedeberg (Neumark)
  • 1895-1898: studies at the University of Kiel and at the Agricultural University in Berlin
  • 11.03.1898: doctorate in Kiel with a dissertation in the field of soil physics (wetting heat of the soil)
  • March 8th, 1901: Habilitation in Kiel for the entire field of agricultural science with a soil physics work (hygroscopicity of the soil) and a lecture on the topic of “Extensity and intensity in agricultural operations”
  • 1901-1906: private lecturer in Kiel. Lectures on agricultural management. Soil science research
  • 1905: 1st edition of Mitscherlich’s “Soil Science”
  • 1906-1941: Professor of Crop Production at the University of Königsberg
  • 1913-1915: Dean or Vice Dean of the Philosophical Faculty
  • 1915-1916: Rector of the University of Königsberg
  • 1930-1932: Rector of the University of Königsberg
  • 1909: Mathematical formulation of the relationship between nutrient supply and yield (later referred to as the law of action of growth factors or as Mitscherlich’s law of yield). This was the first time that a useful production function was proposed. Mitscherlich’s law of income can also be viewed as a special version of the law of decreasing income growth.
  • 1916: Mitscherlich declares the law of the minimum to be invalid on the basis of experimental results
    approx.
  • 1922: Quantitative calculation of the effective P and K amounts in the soil and the P and K doses to be administered by Mitscherlich based on his law of action
  • 1923-1941: executive board member of Mitscherlich-Gesellschaft e. V. in East Prussia, a society that is working on a large scale of quantitative fertilization recommendations for practical use according to the method proposed by Mitscherlich
  • 1935: Publication of fundamental experimental results on the interaction of N, P and K in yield formation (in collaboration with E. v. Boguslawski and A. Gutmann)
  • 1941-1945: Management of the family estate in Kutschlau (Ostrbrandenburg) with consistent use of own research results, especially the methods for the quantitative determination of the P and K gifts
  • January to July 1945: war expellee and trek leader on the road with intermediate stops in Sieversdorf (Ruppin district) and Vietnitz (Westhavelland district). It was probably during this time that Mitscherlich’s “Memoirs” appeared in Halle
  • July 1945: Mitscherlich is accepted into the Paulinenaue estate, which the Red Army supplies
  • Sept. to Dec. 1945: elaboration of popular science rural radio broadcasts for the Berlin radio at the instigation of the SMAD
  • 1946-1950: professor for cultural engineering at the Humboldt University in Berlin
  • 1949-1950: Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture
  • June 1st, 1949: Director of the newly founded Institute for Increasing Plant Yields Paulinenaue of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin
  • 1949-1956: Extensive research and publication activities in Paulinenaue. The main focus is on the quantitative determination of the P and K doses according to Mitschlich’s methods and the optimal N nutrition of the plants
  • 1954: 7th edition of the “Soil Science for Farmers, Foresters and Gardeners”
  • February 3rd, 1956: After a very busy life, E. A. Mitscherlich dies in Paulinenaue, his last place of work, where he also finds his final resting place

Membership in academies, honors (excerpts):

  • 1922: President of the 4th Commission of the International Soil Science Society (with a short interruption until 1941)
  • 1924: Member of the Königsberg Learned Society (secretary of the natural science class until 1941)
  • 1925: Member of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists (Leopoldina) in Halle
  • 1932: Full member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences
  • 1947: Full member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (Secretary of the class for agricultural sciences until 1951)
  • 1947: President of the German Agricultural Society East (until 1951)
  • 1951: Full member of the German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin
  • 1901: Prize of the Liebig Foundation (awarded by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences)
  • 1935: Honorary member of the International Soil Science Society
  • 1935: Honorary member of the German Soil Science Society
  • 1940: Honorary member of the Königsberg learned society
  • 1942: Honorary citizen of the University of Königsberg
  • 1948: Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Kiel
  • 1949: Liebig Prize from the Justus Liebig University of Giessen
  • 1949: National Prize, 1st class
  • 1951: Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen
  • 1954: Honorary doctorate from the Humboldt Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture