Archive Lourens Gerhard Marinus Baas Becking

Number of the collection: UBG 062

Callnumber: uklu 062 Baas Becking

Description of the archive made by: Frida van Til, 2022

Brief overview

Name of the archive: L.G.M., Baas Becking, (1895-1963), botanist and microbiologist.

Provenance: donation?

Dated: ca. 1952

Size: 1 box

Language of the materials: Dutch, English

Summary: Archive of Lourens Gerhard Marinus Baas Becking (1895-1963), botanist and microbiologist.

Institute: University of Groningen

Retainer: University Library Groningen

 Provenance and acquisition

Biography:

Lourens Gerhard Marinus Baas Becking (Deventer 4-1-1895 - Canberra (Australia) 6-1-963) was the son of Marinus Ludovicus Baas Becking and Anna Maria Helena Berkhout.

Baas Becking began studying to become a chemical engineer in Delft in 1913. He then shifted to studying biology in Utrecht in 1916, graduating cum laude with the botanist Went in 1919. In California, he continued his studies at Stanford University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1921. In the same year, he received his doctorate cum laude with Went in Utrecht for the thesis Radiation and Vital Phenomena: A Modern Consideration of Photosynthesis.

 Returning to California, he became a professor of biology at Stanford University. There, the themes of research and theory that would occupy him in later years took shape. Meanwhile, ties with the Netherlands were not cut. In 1927/1928, he gave a series of lectures in Utrecht entitled 'Over de algemeenheid van het leven'.

His appointment as professor of general botany at Leiden University followed in 1930. He served as a professor there for less than 10 years. Although Baas Becking was hortus director for under a decade, he made significant contributions to the Leiden Hortus. He established a systematic garden in which he arranged plants by family. He also applied arboresurgical methods to the hortus's oldest plant, the laburnum, which had been planted in 1601. From one of the removed branches, he had a wooden cup made and presented it to Princess Juliana, who was studying in Leiden at the time.

 During his tenure, Baas Becking thoroughly reorganized and renewed research, teaching, and the hortus, involving assistants, students, as well as technical and garden staff in an intensive collaboration. He supervised the completion of fifteen doctoral theses across various fields. In 1934, his book Geobiologie of inleiding tot de milieukundewas published, outlining the interconnectedness of the diverse knowledge he acquired on the theme of living organisms and the earth. His inaugural address in 1931 was titled Gaia of leven en aarde.

 On a study trip in 1937, which was largely devoted to the biology of salt preparation, Baas Becking became acquainted with the important tropical research center ’s Lands Plantentuin at Buitenzorg in the Dutch East Indies. Initially, Baas Becking was appointed director there for the duration of 1940. He and his family left for Java at the end of January. The far-reaching plans he developed for restoring scientific research at ’s Lands Plantentuin were favorably received by the government, provided they were carried out under his directorship. Consequently, Baas Becking returned to the Netherlands to settle his obligations in Leiden. However, in May 1940, the Germans overran Western Europe, making a return to Java impossible. While in hiding at Unilever, he continued his scholarly work as best he could, with six publications listed for 1942 alone.

 In 1945, Baas Becking managed to return to the Dutch East Indies and dedicated himself to humanitarian efforts. For his contributions to Red Cross work, he received a high distinction. In 1948, he left Indonesia for Nouméa, French Caledonia, where he was associated with the South Pacific Commission for about two years. This commission aimed to coordinate scientific research in the South Pacific region.In 1952, Baas Becking moved to Australia and became affiliated with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He worked initially at the Fisheries Station in Cronulla and later in Canberra. During this period, he published regularly on various subjects, with bacterial geobiology remaining a predominant focus. A significant number of his publications appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Despite his efforts, a revised and expanded edition of his well-known book Geobiologie of inleiding in

de milieukunde did not materialize, even though he worked on it until 1952. The manuscript, now outdated but still valuable, exists in a few copies in the Netherlands. (For details on the fate of this manuscript, see H.F. Linskens in Vakblad voor Biologen 63 (1983) 230-232.) In the last three years of his life, Baas Becking's health declined rapidly. He passed away on January 6, 1963, in Canberra.

 Acquisition: Donation?

Future additions: No future additions are expected.

Contents and collation: (Unpublished) typescript entitled Geobilogy; essays on the relationship between organism and environment / by L.G.M. Baas-Becking. - [S.l. : s.n.], [1952]. - 830 pp.

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Archive: University Library Lourens Gerhard Marinus Baas Becking

Individual items: Groningen UB 062

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