Albert Boerger (known as Alberto Boerger in South America) was a German scientist who worked in the field of phytotechnology. He was born in Förde (today Grevenbrück) in Westphalia on November 4, 1881. In 1911, the government of Uruguay hired him to breed plants in that country, taking as starting points the experiences of the United States and Germany. He arrived in Uruguay in 1912. After two years of research in experimental stations at Toledo (Department of Canelones) and Bañados de Medina (Department of Cerro Largo), he was transferred to the experimental station at La Estanzuela (Department of Colonia del Sacramento) with his collaborators, who conducted research for Uruguay and Argentina. Boerger's studies in plant breeding — especially wheats — made outstanding contributions to plant science. Albert Boerger died in Uruguay on March 28, 1957, and his remains lie in the park bearing his name on the grounds of the current Experimental Station INIA La Estanzuela Alberto Boerger (Estanzuela, Colonia del Sacramento), property of Uruguay's National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA).
Biography
Germany
Albert Boerger was born on November 4, 1881, in the town of Förde, Westphalia, German Empire), son of farmers Teodoro Boerger and Maria Kersling who worked as laborers. In 1902, he began his studies in Natural Sciences and General Engineering in Hannover; then he studied agronomy and political economics at the Prussian Royal Academy of Agriculture of Bonn University, where he specialized in phytotechnology. He received a PhD from the University of Giessen (Germany).
Work in Uruguay
In the second term of José Batlle y Ordoñez, this Uruguayan president wanted to industrialize the country. He encouraged changes in the agricultural sector, among which was the incorporation of the best technicians from abroad. For instance, Drs. Alexander Backhaus and Daniel Salmon directed the Faculty of Agronomy and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of the Republic, respectively.
Albert Boerger, after working as a technical director of seedlings in a Saxon company, in 1910 entered as assistant of the chair of phytotechnology (University of Bonn) of his former teacher Theodor Remy. In the same year, he was part of an official German government mission to study grasslands and forage production in Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland and Sweden. And after that, in the stage of constitution of the Agronomic Stations in Uruguay, he was contracted by the Government of Uruguay as a teacher and senior researcher by recommendation of Alexander Backhaus.
Albert Boerger arrived in Uruguay on March 5, 1912, with his young assistant, Enrique Klein. The first field of activity of the two German scientists was the nursery of Toledo (Department of Canelones), now known under the name of National nursery Dr. Alejandro Gallinal (Department of Canelones, Uruguay). According to Bonfanti (2010), this was the worst documented period of Boerger and Klein's activities in Uruguay, although the seed selection must have started in this period, work that in April 1913 was transferred to the Agricultural Station of Bañados de Medina, now known under the name of Station Experimental Prof. Bernardo Rosengurtt (Cerro Largo). An experimental station with six hectares, where six experiments were organized with pre-selected materials in the nursery of Toledo. In this first period, his first investigations were related to the selection of wheats, due to problems of adaptation of the foreign wheats to the conditions of Uruguay.
Scientific research from La Estanzuela for the region
On March 5, 1914, Alberto Boerger arrived as Director, and Eng. Agr. Enrique Klein as head of the plant breeding division of the "La Estanzuela" (agronomic station, currently known as the Alberto Boerger INIA La Estanzuela Experimental Station) in the Department of Colonia, Uruguay.
After six years of efforts, in 1918, from La Estanzuela, Boerger's research team released the first Uruguayan wheat varieties, genetic selection based on the selection of native seeds. These came from the natural selection of seeds imported by European immigrants in Uruguay.
The successes achieved by Boerger and Klein in the early years with wheat varieties. A work begun in 1912 with 377 selections of wheats that highlightedthe plant breeding as a powerful tool for improve the agricultural yields, which led in 1919 to the recategorization of La Estanzuela by legislation such as Phytotechnical Institute and National Seedling.