Soil Science

Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.

Vasily Valevich Dokuchaev is commonly regarded as the father of soil science, the study of soils in their natural setting.

Ruffin is also known for his pioneering work in methods to preserve and improve soil productivity.

Her research focuses on nutrient cycling and minimizing nutrient loss from agriculture and she is a world leader in studying phosphorus cycling in water, soils, and plants.

Eugene Woldemar Hilgard (January 5, 1833, January 8, 1916) was a German-American expert on pedology (the study of soil resources).

Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka (Russian: Константи́н Дми́триевич Гли́нка) (1867-1927) was a Russian soil scientist.

Marbut developed the first formal soil classification scheme for the United States. Marbut was born and raised in Barry County, Missouri.

William Albert Albrecht (September 12, 1888, May 19, 1974) chairman of the Department of Soils at the University of Missouri, was the foremost authority on the relation of soil fertility to human health and earned four degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Hugh Hammond Bennett (April 15, 1881, July 7, 1960) was a pioneer in the field of soil conservation in the United States of America.

Ehrenfried Erwin Pfeiffer (19 February 1899-30 November 1961) was a German scientist, soil scientist, leading advocate of biodynamic agriculture, anthroposophist and student of Rudolf Steiner.

Rattan Lal (born 5 September 1944) is an Indian-American soil scientist.

Don Kirkham (February 11, 1908, March 7, 1998) was an American soil scientist regarded as the founder of mathematical soil physics.

Mitiku Haile (born 1951) is an Ethiopian researcher who was Professor of Soil Science at Mekelle University, undertaking research on sustainable land management, restoration of degraded lands and integrated soil fertility management.

He was also professor emeritus of soil science and forestry at North Carolina State University and was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

His work has included agricultural research in soil science, fertilizer management, and water quality.

Walter Okwundu Enwezor (born 3 July 1936) is a professor of soil science, an agriculturist and former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1985 to 1986, and much later in 1997).

Silvia Hildegard Haneklaus (born 17 October 1959) is a German agricultural scientist and researcher specialised in Plant nutrition and Soil science.

Abubakar Kundiri is a professor of soil science.

Jennifer DeBruyn is a professor in Biosystems Engineering and Soil Sciences at the University of Tennessee.

He was a professor of Soil Science and Crop Science, and the first head of the Soil Science department of the University of Ghana.

Sławomir Miklaszewski (11 November 1874 in Augustów, Poland, 5 January 1949 in Iłża) was a Polish soil scientist, professor of Warsaw University of Technology, and founder of the Polish pedologic school.

Konstantin Kaetanovich Gedroits (Russian: Константин Каэтанович Гедройц; 25 March 1872-5 October 1932) was a Russian soil scientist of Lithuanian origins.

Black served as president of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) in 1962 and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 1971.

Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil.

In geotechnical engineering, soil compaction is the process in which stress applied to a soil causes densification as air is displaced from the pores between the soil grains.

Soil organic matter (SOM) is the organic matter component of soil, consisting of plant and animal detritus at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil microbes, and substances that soil microbes synthesize.

Soil acidification is the buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the soil pH. Chemically, this happens when a proton donor gets added to the soil.

Waterlogging is the saturation of soil with water.

Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization (also called salination in American English).

Noura Ziadi is a Canadian research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), at the Quebec Research and development centre, whose research focuses on soil fertility and plant nutrition.

Hans Jenny (7 February 1899-9 January 1992) was a Swiss-born soil scientist and expert on pedology (the study of soil in its natural environment), particularly the processes of soil formation.

Martinus Theodorus van Genuchten (born 13 February 1945) is a Dutch-Brazilian soil physicist and hydrologist known for his research on water flow and solute transport in unsaturated porous media.

He was the president of the Indian Society of Soil Science during 1980-81 term and was a recipient of National Citizen Award and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

In 1923, he was appointed professor of soil science, plant and seed physiology at Jena.

McClung's research on the soil degradation plaguing central Brazil showed that acidity, toxic levels of aluminum, and deficiencies of several micronutrients in the soil limited plant growth.

He developed the Seven Soil Tracts system, a classification of the soil of Bangladesh, which is the foundation of agriculture and soil management in Bangladesh.

Zhang Fusuo (born 4 October 1960) is a Chinese plant nutritionist who is a professor at China Agricultural University and director of Resource Environment and Food Security Research Center, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering