Holger Militz (born in 1960) is a German wood scientist and professor at the

University of Goettingen A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, who is an elected fellow (''FIAWS'') and distinguished member of the International Academy of Wood Science, and recipient of the Schweighofer Prize.

Biography

Militz was born in 1960 in

Waldbröl Waldbröl is a town in the southern part of the Oberbergischer Kreis (upper Berg county), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location The town is located on the slopes of the Nutscheid range of hills and is part of the Bergisches Land ...

, a small town in the countryside at Germany. He pursued his studies in

wood science Wood science is the scientific field which predominantly studies and investigates elements associated with the formation, the physical and chemical composition, and the macro- and microstructure of wood as a bio-based and lignocellulosic materi ...

at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

. He then completed his PhD work in 1990 at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, focusing on enhancing the impregnation of

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

through anatomical cell wall changes. Between 1987 and 2000, he held positions in the Netherlands, initially serving as the head of wood technology at TNO Timber Research and later becoming the director of SHR Timber Research in

Wageningen Wageningen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a ...

. Militz along with his research corkers started up during the 90's at SHR the first feasible pilot plant, leading thus to the scaling-up of the today-commercial wood acetylation process, that had been initiated by American chemist, Alfred J. Stamm during the 1940's at

Forest Products Laboratory The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) is the national research laboratory of the United States Forest Service, which is part of USDA. Since its opening in 1910, the FPL has provided scientific research on wood, wood products and their commercial ...

. Since 2000, he has held the position of a full professor at Wood Biology and Wood Products in the Georg-August-University in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. He has been a part-time professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences from 2010-2018. His main research interests include wood technology, wood decay, wood protection and especially, wood modification applying green technologies. He possesses over 600 publications in many scientific journals and book articles in the area of wood science and technology. Militz has won several awards for his yearlong work in the area of wood products and wood modification. He has been an active member of the editorial boards of the international wood journals, ''

Holzforschung ''Holzforschung'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of wood research and technology. It is published by De Gruyter Brill, with Lennart Salmén (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) serving as the editor-in-chief. Th ...

'', '' European Journal of Wood and Wood Products'', ''Wood Research'', and ''Holztechnologie'', while he is the chairman of the ECWM - Wood Modification in Europe since 2001. In October 2023, a

meta-research Metascience (also known as meta-research) is the use of scientific methodology to study science itself. Metascience seeks to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing inefficiency. It is also known as "research on research" and ...

carried out by

John Ioannidis John P. A. Ioannidis ( ; , ; born August 21, 1965) is a Greek-American physician-scientist, writer and Stanford University professor who has made contributions to evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research. Ioannidis studies sc ...

et al.,. at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

included Holger Militz in ''Elsevier Data 2022,'' where he was ranked in the top 2% of researchers in wood science (''forestry – materials''), having a

c-score In biodiversity studies, the checkerboard score or C-score is a statistic which determines the randomness of the distribution of two or more species through a collection of biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific clima ...

of 3.495, one of the highest three in this scientific area. In August 2024, Militz has acquired the same high international distinction for his research and scientific work in

s (''Elsevier Data 2023'').

Awards

* Honorary award, IRG Wood Protection, Australia (2023) * Ternryd prize university Växjö, Sweden (2016) * Josef-Umdasch Forschungspreis, Vienna (2012) * Schweighofer-Prize for the development of an innovative new material (2007)

References

External links

Google Scholar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Militz, Holger 21st-century German scientists Fellows of the International Academy of Wood Science Wood scientists Living people 1960 births Wood sciences