Awards
Julius Kühn Prize
The son of an estate inspector, he received his primary school education in Pulsnitz. Although his father fell ill and the family was in financial difficulties, his relatives made it possible for him to study at the Polytechnic in Dresden. Kühn went into agricultural practice in 1841. As an apprentice, assistant and estate manager, he acquired extensive agricultural knowledge. From 1848 to 1855, he was the manager of an estate in Groß-Krausche near Bunzlau. Here he intensively studied the diseases of cultivated plants using modern methods (microscopy) and published several articles on the subject. In 1855, he enrolled at the Agricultural College in Bonn-Poppelsdorf, but had to give up his studies after two semesters for financial reasons. However, he obtained his doctorate at the University of Leipzig in March 1857 with the dissertation “Über den Brand des Getreides und das Befallen des Rapses und über die Entwicklung des Maisbrandes”. In the same year, he habilitated at the Proskau Agricultural Academy. After only one semester of teaching, he went back into practice as administrator of the Lower Silesian estates of Count Egloffstein.
In 1858, he published the groundbreaking work “Die Krankheiten der Kulturgewächse, ihre Ursachen und ihre Verhütung”. His book on the nutrition of cattle (“Die zweckmäßigste Ernährung des Rindviehs vom wissenschaftlichen und praktischen Gesichtspunkte”), published in 1861, also met with a great response. In 1862 Kühn was appointed full professor of agriculture at the University of Halle. In 1863, he received ministerial approval to establish an independent institute, which he developed over the next forty years into the most important agricultural science teaching and research facility in Germany. He set up experimental fields, an experimental station and laboratories. The permanent field trial “Perpetual Rye Cultivation”, which began in 1878, is still being continued today. In 1889, Kühn's efforts to eliminate the so-called “beet fatigue” resulted in a station for “nematode extermination”. A domestic animal garden and a veterinary department completed the institute, which was designed according to his ideas. It went without saying that his private fortune was used to expand the institute. He turned down calls to Göttingen, Berlin, Hohenheim and Vienna. In retrospect, it is interesting to note that Kühn's institute also dealt with business management issues, as he was unable to recognize a contradiction between science and practice. However, Kühn was not only modern in this respect; he often relied not only on his own expertise, which was underpinned by more than 300 publications on all areas of agriculture, but also supported numerous talents who came from small backgrounds or had broken biographies. He knew how to open up scope and promote areas of research that were not yet widely recognized. Not least because of this, many of his students were appointed to chairs where pioneering work was also carried out. They set up institutes throughout Germany based on the Halle model, but often took paths other than the universalist one outlined by Kühn. Obviously as a retirement home, Kühn acquired the “Lindchen” estate near Spremberg in 1898, where he investigated the possibilities of improving the cultivation of crops on very light sandy soils. Kühn became an emeritus professor in 1909.
Two commemorative publications in which, among other things, an incorrect doctorate date is given and extensive biographical literature recognized the highly decorated Kühn (honorary doctorate from the University of Krakow, Privy Councillor with the title “Excellency”, Order of the Red Eagle 2nd Class with Star, Order of the Crown 2nd Class, Russian Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd Class) as the most important German representative of agricultural science.
On the occasion of his 80th birthday celebrations in March 1907, Kühn defined the goal of his life as a scientist: “My task was a goal that had not been expressed before. But scientific research is not yet agriculture. The true goal is the greatest possible production of food and clothing materials. Just as medical science has as its practical aim the preservation of the body in vigor and health, our science has the duty to try to meet the needs of mankind for food and clothing. We must recognize the laws of nature, and we must apply the laws of nature with the greatest possible reserve to produce substances. The highest scientific goal is the practical goal& Our task is the benefit”. The “Kühn-Archiv”, which was re-established in 1992, was committed to these ideas and can be considered one of the most important journals in the field for the period from 1911 to 1971.
(Source: www.lexikon-definition.de/Julius-Kuehn.html (changed))
The prize is awarded in order to contribute to the development of ecologically and economically oriented plant protection in the spirit of Julius Kühn's pioneering scientific and practical ideas and to improve the scientific basis for this by promoting research in the entire field of plant protection. The prize is awarded every two years for outstanding work by scientists under the age of 40.
The scientific award comes with a cash prize of 2,000 euros. The prize is awarded on the occasion of the German Plant Protection Conference. As a rule, the prize winner gives a plenary lecture. Every full member of the DPG is entitled to nominate candidates for the award. The basis for nominating candidates is work that has been published in a scientific journal within the last three years or has been accepted for publication. The nominations must be submitted together with the publications to the DPG office by December 31 of the year before a plant protection conference. Several related publications can also be submitted. The prize can also be awarded to a group of authors. The awarding of the prize is decided by
- the three chairpersons of the DPG
- one representative of the Plant Protection Service
- one representative of the Julius Kühn Institute
- one representative of the plant protection industry and
- one university lecturer from the university institutes for plant protection.
The committee is chaired by the first chairperson of the DPG. The executive board of the DPG appoints the other members of the committee for a term of office of 6 years in each case, taking into account various sub-areas of plant protection. Reappointment is not possible. The decision on the awarding of the prize is made by simple majority. Majority approval can also be obtained in writing. It must be obtained by June 1st and will be announced in the DPG bulletin Phytomedizin. The awardin of the prize is announced in the previous year in the DPG Bulletin and the newsletter of the German Phytosanitary Service and posted in the relevant institutions. The Julius Kühn Prize is funded by the DPG. Legal recourse is excluded.
- Prof. Dr. Anne-Katrin Mahlein (1st Chairperson DPG)
- Prof. Dr. Annette Reineke (2nd Chairperson DPG)
- Prof. Dr. Ralph Hückelhoven (3rd Chairperson DPG)
- Dr. Ellen Richter (Landwirtschaftskammer Nordrhein-Westfalen - Pflanzenschutzdienst)
- Prof. Dr. Johannes Jehle (Julius Kühn-Institut - Institut für Biologischen Pflanzenschutz)
- Dr. Andreas Mehl (Bayer AG, Division Crop Science)
- Prof. Dr. Gunther Döhlemann (Universität zu Köln - Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften)
Holders of the Julius Kühn Prize
2023: | Prof. Dr. Sabine ANDERT, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf |
2023: | Dr. Sebastian LIEBE, Göttingen |
2021: | Dr. Aline KOCH, Hohenheim |
2020: | Dr. Caspar LANGENBACH, Aachen |
2018: | Dr. Stefan JACOB, Mainz |
2018: | Dr. Mario Matthias SCHUMAN, Einbeck |
2016: | PD Dr. Anne-Katrin MAHLEIN, Bonn |
2016: | Dr. Stefanie RANF, München |
2014: | Prof. Dr. Gunther DOEHLEMANN, Marburg |
2012: | Dr. Ralf HORBACH, Halle |
2010: | Dr. Patrick SCHÄFER, Gießen |
2008: | Dr. Marco BEYER, Kiel |
2004: | Prof. Dr. Harald SCHERM, Athens (USA) |
2004: | Dr. Ralph HÜCKELHOVEN, Gießen |
2002: | Dr. Johannes HALLMANN, Münster |
2002: | Prof. Dr. Thomas BAUM, Ames (USA) |
1998: | Dr. Erich-Christian OERKE, Bonn |
1996: | Prof. Dr. Andreas VON TIEDEMANN, Rostock |
1994: | Dr. sc. agr. Bärbel GEROWITT, Göttingen |
1992: | Dr. rer. hort. Edgar MAISS, Braunschweig |
1990: | Dr. agr. Joseph-Alexander VERREET, München-Weihenstephan |
1988: | Priv-Doz. Dr. agr. Heinz-Wilhelm DEHNE, Hannover |
1986: | Dr. Wolf-Dieter PHILIPP, Hohenheim |
1984: | Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Kurt MENDGEN, Konstanz |
1981: | Dr. rer. nat. Ingolf SCHUPHAN, Berlin |
1979: | Dr. agr. Heinrich BUCHENAUER, Bonn |