Carsten Olsen
Encyclopedia
Carsten Erik Olsen was a Danish plant ecologist and plant physiologist, who pioneered the study of plant nutrition
in soils of different pH
. He was born in Copenhagen
and began studies of botany
at the University of Copenhagen
in 1910, at first with professor Eugenius Warming
, then with professor Christen Raunkiær. His doctoral dissertation (1921) was on the influence of soil pH on the natural distribution of plants. He was then employed by the Carlsberg Laboratory
as an assistant to the chemist S. P. L. Sørensen
, later in his own lab. There, he worked on plant uptake of ions, especially iron
, nitrogen fixation
and calcicolous plants.
Scientific works by Carsten Olsen:
Works on Carsten Olsen:
Plant nutrition
'Plant Nutrition is the study of the chemical elements that are necessary for growth. In 1972, E. Epstein defined 2 criteria for an element to be essential for plant growth:# in its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle or...
in soils of different pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
. He was born in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and began studies of botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
in 1910, at first with professor Eugenius Warming
Eugenius Warming
Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming , known as Eugen Warming, was a Danish botanist and a main founding figure of the scientific discipline of ecology...
, then with professor Christen Raunkiær. His doctoral dissertation (1921) was on the influence of soil pH on the natural distribution of plants. He was then employed by the Carlsberg Laboratory
Carlsberg Laboratory
The Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark was created in 1875 by J. C. Jacobsen, the founder of the Carlsberg brewery, for the sake of advancing biochemical knowledge, especially relating to brewing. It featured a Department of Chemistry and a Department of Physiology...
as an assistant to the chemist S. P. L. Sørensen
S. P. L. Sørensen
Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen was a Danish chemist, famous for the introduction of the concept of pH, a scale for measuring acidity and basicity. He was born in Havrebjerg, Denmark....
, later in his own lab. There, he worked on plant uptake of ions, especially iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrogen fixation is the natural process, either biological or abiotic, by which nitrogen in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia . This process is essential for life because fixed nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of life, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and...
and calcicolous plants.
- Olsen, C. (1914) Vegetationen i nordsjællandske Sphagnummoser. Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
34, 1-44. - Olsen, C. (1914) The structure and biology of Arctic flowering plants. 9. Cornaceae. Meddelelser om GrønlandMeddelelser om GrønlandMeddelelser om Grønland was a Danish scientific periodical issued by the Commission for Scientific Investigations in Greenland. Founded by Frederik Johnstrup, it was published from 1879 to 1979...
37, 127-150. - Olsen, Carsten Erik (1916) Morfologisk, biologisk og formationsstatistisk Undersøgelse af Mosserne og Karplanterne i de danske Egeskoves og Egekrats Bundflora. Gold medal prize dissertation, University of CopenhagenUniversity of CopenhagenThe University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, 1916. 204 pp. - Olsen, C. (1917) Studier over Epifyt-Mossernes Indvandringsfølge (Succession) paa Barken af vore forskellige Træer, samt et Bidrag til disse Mossers Økologi [Eng. summ.]. Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
34, 313-342. - Olsen, C. (1921) The concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil. ScienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
54 (1405), 539-541. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol54/issue1405/index.dtl - Olsen, C. (1921) The ecology of Urtica dioica. Journal of EcologyJournal of EcologyThe Journal of Ecology is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of the ecology of plants. It was established in 1913 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the British Ecological Society....
9, 1-17. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0477(192109)9%3A1%3C1%3ATEOUD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I - Olsen, C. (1923) Studies on the hydrogen ion concentration of the soil and its significance to the vegetation, especially to the natural distribution of plants. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 15 (1), 1-166. Translation of Doctoral Thesis, University of Copenhagen, 1921.
- Olsen, C. & Linderstrøm-Lang, K. (1927) On the accuracy of the various methods of measuring concentration of Hydrogen ions in soil. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 17 (1), 1-27.
- Olsen, C. (1929) On the determination of nitrogen in soils: with special reference to the presence of nitrates and nitrites. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 17 (3), 1-13.
- Olsen, C. (1928) On the significance of hydrogen-ion concentration for the cycle of nitrogen transformation in the soil. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 17 (8), 1-21.
- Olsen, C. (1929) On the analytical determination of ammonia in soil, and the adsorption power of soil for ammonia. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 17 (15), 1-20.
- Olsen, C. (1929) On the influence of humus substances on the growth of green plants in water culture. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 18 (1), 1-16.
- Olsen, C. (1932) Studier on nitrogen fixation. I. Nitrogen fixation in the dead leaves of forest beds. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 19 (9), 1-36.
- Olsen, C. (1934) The absorption of manganese by plants. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 20, 1-34.
- Olsen, C. (1934) Über Manganaufnahme der Pflanzen. Biochem. Zeitschr., 269, 329-348.
- Olsen, C. (1935) Iron absorption and chlorosis in green plants. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 21, 15-52.
- Olsen, C. (1936) The absorption of manganese by plants. II. Toxicity of manganese to various plant species. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg, 21, 129-146.
- Olsen, C. (1937) Über die Anwendbarkeit des Kjeldahlschen Stickstoffbestimmungsverfahrens bei biologischen Untersuchungen. Biochem. Zeitschr., 291, 178-187.
- Hevesy, G., Linderstrøm-Lang, K., & Olsen, C. (1937) Exchange of phosphorus atoms in plants and seeds. NatureNatureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
139, 149-150. - Olsen, C. (1938) Experiments with different quantities of iron salts given to maize in water culture. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 21, 301-313.
- Olsen, C. (1938) Growth of Deschampsia flexuosa in culture solutions (water culture experiments) and in soils with different pH values. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 22, 405.
- Olsen, C. (1938) Undersøgelser over Bundfloraen i danske Egeskove og Egekrat. Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
44, 367-432. - Olsen, C. (1939) Absorption of calcium and formation of oxalic acid in higher green plants. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 23 (8), 101-123.
- Hevesy, G., Linderstrøm-Lang, K., Keston, A.S. & Olsen, C. (1940) Exchange of Nitrogen atoms in the leaves of sunflower. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 23, 213-218.
- Olsen, C. (1942) Water culture experiments with higher green plants in nutrient solutions having different concentrations of calcium. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 24 (4), 1-29.
- Olsen, C. (1942) On the chlorophyll content of sun leaves and shade leaves of beech (Fagus silvatica). Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 24 (5), 1-5.
- Olsen, C. (1943) Natural glades in beech-wood on calcareous soil. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 24, 315-332.
- Olsen, C. (1946) Forandringer i Maglemoses Mosvegetation siden 1913-14. Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
46, 347-383. - Olsen, C. (1948). The mineral, nitrogen and sugar contents of beech leaves and beech leaf sap at various times. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 26, 197-230.
- Olsen, C. (1948). Adsorptively bound potassium in beech leaves. Physiologia Plantarum, 1, 136-141.
- Olsen, C. (1950) The significance of concentration for the rate of ion absorption by higher plants in water culture. Physiologia Plantarum, 3, 152-164.
- Olsen, C. (1953) The significance of concentration for the rate of ion absorption by higher plants in water culture. II. Experiments with aquatic plants. Physiologia Plantarum, 6, 837-843.
- Olsen, C. (1953) The significance of concentration for the rate of ion absorption by higher plants in water culture. III. The importance of stirring. Physiologia Plantarum, 6, 844-847.
- Olsen, C. (1953) The significance of concentration for the rate of ion absorption by higher plants in water culture. IV. The influence of hydrogen ion concentration. Physiologia Plantarum, 6, 848-858.
- Olsen, C. (1954) Hvilke betingelser må være opfyldte, for at Helodea canadensis kan opnå den optimale udvikling, der er årsag til dens massevise optræden i naturen [Eng. summ.]. Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
51, 263-273. - Olsen, C. (1958) Iron absorption in different plant species as a function of the pH value of the solution. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 31 (4), 1-59.
- Olsen, C. (1958) Iron uptake in different plant species as a function of the pH value of the nutrient solution. Physiologia Plantarum, 11, 889-905.
- Olsen, C. (1961) Competition between trees and herbs for nutrient elements in calcareous soil. Symposium of the Society for Experimental Botany (Cambridge), 15, 145-155.
- Olsen, C. (1970) On biological nitrogen fixation in nature, particularly in blue-green algae. Comptes Rendus des Travaux du Laboratoire Carlsberg. Série Chimique, 37 (12), 269-283.
Works on Carsten Olsen:
- Obituary in Botanisk TidsskriftBotanisk TidsskriftBotanisk Tidsskrift was a Danish mixed scientific and amateur journal concerning botany, issued in Copenhagen by the Danish Botanical Society...
70 (1): 98-100 (1973) by E. Bille Hansen.