Hans-Peter Blume as a student of agriculture and chemistry earned his Doctoral of Agricultural Science degree at Kiel University. His career included serving as assistant professor for Soil Science, at Stuttgart-Hohenheim, and professor of Soil Science at the Department of Ecology, Technical University of Berlin (West). At the University of Keil Dr. Blume has served as professor and director at the Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, and director at the Ecological Centre. His research has included “Stagnosols”, desert soils in the Central Sahara, soil ecology, and Cryosols in Antarctica. He has served as President of the German Society of Soil Science, as a member of the ISSS committee on Standardization, as a member of ISSS-WRB and an honorary member of the Polish, Romanian, and German Societies of Soil Science. Dr. Blume is Emeritus Professor, Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, University of Kiel.