Ludwig Greiner
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Ludwig Greiner (1796–1882) was a 19th-century forest and
lumber industry The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry – when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products (e.g. fu ...
management expert who improved the effectiveness of woodland valuation methods in the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
and trained a whole new generation of foresters in a comprehensive approach to the management of natural resources. While his goals were defined by a need to run a profitable business, he introduced procedures that replaced previous exploitative, earth-eroding lumbering on Saxe-Coburg's estates with practices that contained aspects of modern ecology. Greiner's insistence on a thorough woodland inventory of his employer's vast, poorly charted lands gave him his enduring recognition outside the field defined by his expertise. His passion for precision,
geomatics Geomatics is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as the "discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing, presentation of geographic data or geographic information". Under another definition, it ...
, and the outdoors made him the first person to disprove the results of previous measurements and accurately identify
Gerlachovský štít Gerlachovský štít (, translated into English as ''Gerlachov Peak'', German: ''Gerlsdorfer Spitze'', Hungarian: ''Gerlachfalvi-csúcs''), informally referred to as Gerlach, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the Carpat ...
as the highest peak in the whole 1,500 km (900 mi.) long
Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at ...
mountain range.


Early life

Greiner was born to the family of the Lutheran pastor Karl Greiner in the small village of Lichtentanne (today part of
Probstzella Probstzella is a municipality in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany. History Between 1945 and 1990 Probstzella station served as East German inner German border crossing for rail transport. The crossing was open for trains t ...
) in Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1796. His baptismal name is still spelled ''Ludwig'' in German,
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
, and some Slovak sources, which was also the name he used in his publications. Most Slovak sources now render his baptismal name as ''Ľudovít'', the Hungarian sources render it as ''Lajos''. Non-specialist sources also mostly misidentify him as a rank-and-file forester. After high school, he took special qualifying tests in forestry and spent several years gaining experience as forester in Austria and on the Lubomirski estates (administrated by the heirs of Julia Lubomirska) in Habsburg Galicia in the
Łańcut Łańcut (, ; ; ) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), it is the Capital (political), capital of Łańcut County. History Archeological investigat ...
and
Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
regions, now in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
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. He finished his education at the
Vienna University of Technology TU Wien () is a public research university in Vienna, Austria. The university's teaching and research are focused on engineering, computer science, and natural sciences. It currently has about 28,100 students (29% women), eight faculties, and ...
where he took mathematics, physics, and chemistry in 1824–1826. He then became the director of forest management and timber rafting on Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg's estates, from where he was hired by Ernest's brother
Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
as the head of forestry and land management of all of his estates.


Years at Jolsva

Ludwig Greiner started his job at Jolsva (today
Jelšava Jelšava ( or ''Jelschau''; ; ) is a town and municipality in Revúca District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia. Etymology The name is derived from Slovak language, Slovak ''jelša'' (Alnus glutinosa, alder). ''Jelšava'' means "a place ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) on 1 April 1828. The estates as a company were headquartered in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, but its center of operations was at Jolsva (Jelšava) where Greiner spent the rest of his life. He married Maria Glósz, with whom he had nine children. Two sons, Hugo and Ludwig, followed in their father's footsteps. After his wife's death in 1857 Greiner married Otilia Szinowitz of Besztercabánya (today
Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica (, also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Greater Fatra, Veľká Fatra, and t ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
), but had no more children. He was buried at the Jolsva (Jelšava) cemetery next to his first wife.


Descendants

His son Ludwig Junior became chief engineer at the Coburg-Saxe estates and later forest management director at Rozsnyó (today
Rožňava Rožňava (, , Latin: ''Rosnavia'') is a town in Slovakia, approximately by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,182. The town is an economic and tourist centre of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attr ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) where he was a founder of the private Girls' Institute of Education in 1871, the first high school in the Hungarian part of what was then the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
projected specifically for Slovak female students. Ludwig Greiner Senior's great-granddaughter Sibylla Greinerová (b. 1919) became an acknowledged
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
painter of human figures in motion.


Triangulation of Gerlachovský Peak

Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg's estates were distributed over areas that are located in today's
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
and
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. The estate managed from Káposztafalva (today
Hrabušice Hrabušice () is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. Hrabušice is the starting point for the walks through Slovak karst region. Tourism is a major local employer here. ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) was in the vicinity of the Tatra Mountains, a craggy section of the
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
. According to Greiner's own account, he climbed Lomnický Peak () on 10 August 1837, a beautiful sunny day, measured its elevation with an altimeter and used the
quadrant Quadrant may refer to: Companies * Quadrant Cycle Company, 1899 manufacturers in Britain of the Quadrant motorcar * Quadrant (motorcycles), one of the earliest British motorcycle manufacturers, established in Birmingham in 1901 * Quadrant Privat ...
to determine that Gerlachovský Peak () was actually higher. It was unexpected, because the previous, generally accepted measurement by the Swedish botanist
Göran Wahlenberg Georg (Göran) Wahlenberg (1 October 1780 – 22 March 1851) was a Swedish naturalist. He was born in Kroppa, Värmland County. Wahlenberg matriculated at Uppsala University in 1792, received his doctorate in Medicine in 1806, was appoi ...
from 1813 recorded Gerlachovský Peak's elevation as 285 m (935 ft) lower. Greiner was convinced that his own observation about Gerlachovský Peak's relative height was right, but because he considered the altimeter and quadrant insufficiently precise instruments, he triangulated the elevations of several of the Tatra peaks from the vicinity of the town of Poprád (today
Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
), not far from Káposztafalva (
Hrabušice Hrabušice () is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. Hrabušice is the starting point for the walks through Slovak karst region. Tourism is a major local employer here. ...
), in the fall of 1838 after he obtained a very accurate
theodolite A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building and ...
from a friend. Greiner's paper published the next year dethroned the mountains of
Kriváň Kriváň can refer to: * Kriváň (peak), peak in the High Tatras, Slovakia * Veľký Kriváň, the highest peak in Malá Fatra, Slovakia * Kriváň (village) Kriváň () is a village and municipality in Detva District, in the Banská Bystrica Re ...
() and Lomnický Peak, which had been alternately considered the highest peaks until then, and reported that the highest point in the Tatras and the whole Carpathian chain was Gerlachovský Peak. The elevation Greiner calculated was off by only 13 meters (43 ft) by comparison to what it is known to be today.


Head of forestry and land management

Greiner improved the effectiveness of the woodland valuation methods in the Kingdom of Hungary and trained a whole new generation of foresters in a comprehensive approach to the management of natural resources. In 1851 he helped to organize the Hungarian Forestry Association (''Ungarischer Forstverein'') and then served as its vice president. While his goals were defined by a need to run a profitable business, he introduced procedures that replaced previous exploitative, earth-eroding lumbering on Saxe-Coburg's estates with practices that contained aspects of modern ecology. Among his lasting environmental achievements has been the restoration of the timberline on largely deforested King's Bald Mountain (, 1,946 m, 6,385 ft.) to its natural elevation of 1,650 m (5,413 ft). One of his 21st-century successors described Greiner's principles in modern terms as aiming at and achieving permanent sustainability. Greiner's timber yield tables published in 1877 and 1886 proved sufficiently reliable to have remained in use for over a century. .n. "Ľudovít Greiner." ''Revúcke listy,'' 2006.


Publications by Ludwig Greiner

* 1839 − Contributions to the General Knowledge and Improvement of Hungarian Forestry I. (''Beiträge zur Kenntnis und Verbesserung des ungarischen Forstwesens in Allgemeinen I.'') * 1839 − Gerlachovský Peak as the highest mountain elevation of the
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
. ("Die Gerlsdorfer Spitze, als die höchste Gebirgshöhe der Karpathen." ''Gemeinnützige Blaetter zur Belehrung und Unterhaltung.'') * 1843 − Contributions to the General Knowledge and Improvement of Hungarian Forestry II. (''Beiträge zur Kenntnis und Verbesserung des ungarischen Forstwesens in Allgemeinen II.'') * 1845 − How Could the Very Appreciable Timber Shortage and Forest Loss in our Parts Szepesség (today
Spiš Spiš ( ; or ; ) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (more specifically encompassing 14 former Slovak villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) Be Most Effectively Remedied? Answered by Ludwig Greiner. (''Wodurch könnte dem sehr fühlbaren Holzmangel und der Waldverwüstung in unserer Gegend (Zipsen) am zweckmäßigsten abgeholfen werden? Beantwortet von Ludwig Greiner.'') * 1851 − Gerlachovský Crest as the highest peak in the Tatras. ("Gerlachovský chochol, jako nejvyšší jehlan v Tatrách." ''Slovenské noviny.'') * 1852 − On the determination of elevations in the
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
. ("Über Höhenbestimmungen der Karpathen." ''Allgemeine Land- und Forstwirtschaftliche Zeitung.'') * 1856 − Briefings on the experiences with the most reliable methods of forest stand rejuvenation in high mountains, namely in the Carpathians. ("Mittheilungen der Erfahrungen über die bewährtesten Verjüngungsarten der Bestände im Hochgebirge, namentlich in den Karpathen." ''Mittheilungen des ungarischen Forstvereines.'')József Szinnyei, ''Magyar írók élete és munkái, IV Gyalai-Hyrtl.'' 1896. * 1856 − Briefings on the density and conditions of the
larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...
es in the higher
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...
, in which of those managed forest locations they receded and what are the obstacles to their greater spread. ("Mittheilungen über das Vorkommen und Gedeihen der Lärche in den höheren Karpathen, welche Stelle ihr in dem dort. Forsthaushalte einzuräumen wäre u. welche Hindernisse ihrer grössern Verbreitung entgegen stehen." ''Mittheilungen des ungarischen Forstvereines.'') * 1867
Gömör County Gömör (, , , Latin: ''Gömörinum'') was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 19th century, and in the beginning of the 20th century, it was united with the Kis-Hont County to f ...
forestry dynamics. ("Gömörmegye erdőszeti viszonyai." ''Erdészeti és gazdászati lapok.'' In three parts.) * 1873 − Forest Data for the
Gömör County Gömör (, , , Latin: ''Gömörinum'') was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 19th century, and in the beginning of the 20th century, it was united with the Kis-Hont County to f ...
Woodlands in Hungary. (''Forststatistik der Waldungen des Gömörer Comitates in Ungarn.'') * 1873 − Essentials of Forest Valuation Operations and Forest Map Imaging at the Saxe-Coburg Ducal Assets in
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. (''Grundzüge zu dem Forst-Taxationsverfahren und zum Zeichnen der Forstkarten auf den herzogl. Sachsen- Coburg'schen Gütern in Ungarn.'') * 1877 − Yield Tables. (''Termési táblák.'' Reissued in 1886.) * 1882 − A Guideline to the Execution of Timber Yield Management in the High Forests of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Ducal Estates of Murányalja (today
Muráň Muráň (earlier ''Podmuráň'', , ) is a village and municipality in Revúca District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia. Geography The village is located around 9 km north of Revúca, in the Muráň river valley. The Muráň Plate ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
) and Káposztafalva (
Hrabušice Hrabušice () is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. Hrabušice is the starting point for the walks through Slovak karst region. Tourism is a major local employer here. ...
). (''Instruktion zur Führung der Forstertrags-Kontrolle in den Hochwaldforsten der herzogl. sachsen-coburg-gothaischen Herrschaften Murány und Kapsdorf.'')


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greiner, Ludwig People from Austria-Hungary People from Saalfeld-Rudolstadt People from Revúca District TU Wien alumni 1796 births 1882 deaths History of forestry Foresters People from the Austrian Empire