- Helmut Metzner
Helmut Metzner (
15 September 1925 ,Osnabrück ,Germany –20 September 1999 ,Tübingen , Germany) was an eminent plant physiologist, Professor of Biochemical Plant Physiology atEberhard Karls University of Tübingen , the founder of theEuropean Academy of Environmental Affairs and a co-founder of theWeikersheim Think Tank . [ [http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/history/obit/MetznerObitNew.pdf Obituary in "Photosynthesis Research" 63: 191–194, 2000.] ] [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20021218065426/http://www.sepp.org/weekwas/1999/Dec25.htm Obituary in "The Week That Was", 25 Dec 1999] ,Science & Environmental Policy Project .] [ [http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/qvo/Tun/TUN95-25.html Obituary by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Wegmann on the University of Tübingen web site] (in German).]Life and Works
Metzner studied
biology ,physics andphysical chemistry at theUniversity of Münster and theUniversity of Göttingen . He completed his studies in 1950 with a dissertation on the subject of "Elektrochemische Messungen an ungereizten Pflanzenzellen" (Electro-chemical measurements of unstimulated plant cells).He received his doctorate in 1952 from the
University of California, Berkeley , having worked under the direction of the pioneering plant biochemist,Melvin Calvin . He subsequently worked as an "Assistent" (postdoctoral fellow) at the Botanical Institute of the University of Münster, where he researched in the field ofchloroplasts . After completing his training at the University of Göttingen, he qualified to become a professor with an investigation about "Veränderung der Blattproteine bei photoperiodischer Induktion" (Changes of leaf proteins by photo-periodic induction). He specialised in thebiochemistry ofphotosynthesis .In 1961, Metzner was offered a professorship at the
University of Tübingen , where he became the founding director of the new Institute for Chemical Plant Physiology. In addition to the standard academic program, he also organised adult education courses inBaden-Württemberg as of 1981 in Ecology and its biological basis, which were attended by more than 6,000 people. This led to the founding of the European Academy of Environmental Affairs at Tübingen, of which Metzner remained President until his death in 1999.Together with
Hans Karl Filbinger ,Günter Rohrmoser ,Heinz Karst andErich Baumann , Metzner founded theWeikersheim Think Tank in 1979, and he remained a director until 1995. In 1995 he organised a conference inLeipzig, Germany , which produced theLeipzig Declaration on global climate change.He was editor-in-chief of the journal "
Photobiochemistry and Photophysics ," and co-editor of the journal "Photosynthetica ".Metzner became professor emeritus in 1993. He died in 1999 in Tübingen.
Honors
* 1977 Honorary Doctorate of the
Ghent University
* 1985Bundesverdienstkreuz
* 1992 Named as a corresponding member of the Collegium Europaeum Jenense
* 1992 Josef Hlávka Medal of theCzechoslovak Academy of Sciences References
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