Abstract
Born 29th February 1936 near Bern, Switzerland, Fritz Hans Schweingruber worked as a teacher until 1965, obtained a PhD in botany from the University of Basel in 1972 (where he also obtained a Professorship in 1976), and started his lifelong career at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdorf right afterwards. Fritz developed a dendrochronological network across much of the Northern Hemisphere, expanded wood (xylem) science beyond forests, implemented wood anatomical techniques into dendroecology and paleoclimatology, and enthusiastically trained thousands of students, of which hundreds remained actively involved in the still emerging field of tree-ring research. Though Fritz died 7th January 2020 after an extraordinary academic career, his intellectual legacy will continue to inspire scholars around the world.
Highlights
Dendroecology” (Schweingruber, 1996) is a standard for any tree-ring researcher, and his last book – an anatomical atlas of aquatic and wetland plant stems – was published just recently (Schweingruber et al, 2020)
Born 29th February 1936 near Bern, Switzerland, Fritz Hans Schweingruber worked as a teacher until 1965, obtained a PhD in botany from the University of Basel in 1972, and started his lifelong career at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdorf right afterwards
The immense paleoclimatic value of Schweingruber’s Northern Hemisphere tree-ring width and density networks is best reflected in three out of several highly-cited and hugely influential articles published in Science and Nature: Esper et al (2002) and Briffa et al (1998a) demonstrated the ability of well-replicated and carefully standardized tree-ring chronologies to preserve and capture low-frequency growth and temperature variability as well as the rapid response to volcanic activity during the past centuries, while probably being affected by reduced climate sensitivity since the 1980s (Briffa et al, 1998b)
Summary
Dendroecology” (Schweingruber, 1996) is a standard for any tree-ring researcher, and his last book – an anatomical atlas of aquatic and wetland plant stems – was published just recently (Schweingruber et al, 2020). Fritz contributed to more than 200 journal articles, often as the senior author, and his numerous ring width, density and anatomy data will continue to play an important role in many studies.
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