Franz Körte

Heinrich Friedrich Franz Körte (17 March 1782 – 30 January 1845) was a German natural and agricultural scientist, and for thirty years Professor of Natural Sciences at the Agricultural Academy in Möglin, which was founded by Albrecht Daniel Thaer.

Biography Family, youth and education

Franz Körte was born in Aschersleben as the second son of an Evangelical Lutheran preacher. His mother was a niece of the poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. His brother was William Körte (1776–1846), a literary historian and executor of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim.

Körte received his education in his parental home and at the high school in his native town. Attracted to nature and its operation, he decided to devote himself to study of agricultural economics. Hereby he was influenced by the intellectual movement, which the first writings and teachings of Albrecht Thaer had initiated in the circles of the German agriculturists. In 1802 Körte had visited Thaer in Celle, After solving some financial difficulties with the assistance of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, he then moved to the University of Halle. From 1803 to 1804 he devoted himself to the study of natural sciences, particularly botany and chemistry, and under guidance of the botanist Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel familiarized himself with other capacities. resulting in the publication Untersuchungen der Wippfelder Schwefelquellen (Investigations of Wippfelder sulfur wells). Under the unfavorable conditions of that time, the company was not able to gain any support and had to be abandoned due to lack of funds. Not discouraged by such failure Körte in 1811 habilitated, and in the same year was appointed lecturer at the University of Würzburg and technical assistant in currency measurements. awarded with the title of "Royal Prussian Professor". After his death on 26 October 1828, Thaer had left the estate and institute to Philipp Albrecht Thaer and Franz Körte, who kept running the institute in the same way. In 1830 he handed over the management to his brother-in-law Philipp Albrecht Thaer. In the same year he took over the management of the Lüdersdorf estate, and continued his teaching at the Academy Mögliner he continued.

From 1836 to 1842 Körte published a new magazine as successor of the Möglinschen Annalen, for which he chose the title Möglin'sche Jahrbücher (Möglin'sche yearbooks). Of these at irregular intervals published yearbooks at total was published of five volumes. Korte was an honorary member of several agricultural associations.

Körte was honorary member of many economic and agricultural societies with economic associations. The Prussian king awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle. He died on 30 January 1845 in Lüdersdorf near Wriezen an der Oder and near Reichenow-Möglin.

Selected publications Alexander Lips, Franz Körte. Über die Idee von Ackerbauschulen, 1808. Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber and Franz Körte Flora Erlangensis: Continens plantas phaenogamas circa Erlangam crescentes. Apud J. J. Palm, 1811. Franz Körte. Der Katholikometer: ein ... Instrument für den praktischen Forst- und Landmann, vermöge welchem er alle ... Aufgaben der praktischen Feldmesskunst lösen kann. 1815. Franz Körte. Was ist Humus, wie und auf welche Weise wirkt derselbe als ernährendes Mittel für die Pflanzen? 1818. Heinrich Friedrich Franz Körte (eds.) Möglinsche Annalen der Landwirthschaft, 1825–1830. Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann. Versuch einer geologischen Begründung des Acker- und Forstwesens. Translated from Latin by Franz Körte, 1825. Franz Körte. Die Strich-, Zug- oder Wander-Heuschrecke: ihre Beschreibung, Vermehrung in jetzigen und frühern Zeiten, und die Mittel zu ihrer Vertilgung, Rücker, 1828. Franz Körte. Berlin, 1845

About Franz Körte

Hans-Heinrich Müller: Mitarbeiter Albrecht Thaers in Möglin. In: Jahresheft der Albrecht-Thaer-Gesellschaft, Bd. 25, 1991, S. 63–74 (m. Bild). Friedrich August Schmidt, Bernhard Friedrich Voight Neuer nekrolog der Deutschen, 1847. p. 111 Störig, Johann Erich Julius: Des Professor Körte Leben und Wirken als Landwirth, Gelehrter und Mensch. In: Allgemeine Landwirthschaftliche Monatsschrift, Bd. 15, 1845, S. 132–139.