Sergius A. Wilde
(1898-1981)
Inducted September 26, 1987
Plaque Engraving:
Professor Sergius A. “Doc” Wilde was born in Moscow, Russia and came into the United States in 1929. He joined the Department of Soil Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1934.
A pioneer in the field of forest soil research, Dr. Wilde’s investigations had an enormous impact on Wisconsin’s forest economy and on forest soil science as it relates to evaluation and management of natural forests, plantations and tree nurseries. Dr. Wilde’s research, searching and publications led to the recognition of forest soils as a scientific discipline and promoted sound forest management not only in Wisconsin but worldwide.
More about Sergius A. Wilde:
Sergius A. Wilde joined the Department of Soil Science of the University of Wisconsin in 1934. This appointment involved collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin Conservation Department and later with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. A pioneer in the field of forest soils research, he carried out important studies on soils, woody-plant nutrition, tree-mycorrhiza relationships and reforestation. He authored several books and over 200 scientific papers.
Dr. Wilde’s contributions in forestry to the people of Wisconsin are invaluable. In his pioneering effort, he aimed to interpret forest soils as carriers of definite floristic associations, as media for the growth of nursery stock or forest plantations, and as dynamic systems that react to different forms of silvicultural cuttings. He authored one of the classical and most widely used reference books on forest soils.
Wilde’s contribution to the establishment of a systematic nursery soil fertility management is nationally accepted. His appreciation of the holistic nature of plant-soil systems enabled him to anticipate by more than three decades present-day concerns with toxic chemicals, soil ecology, groundwater quality, and interrelations among all of these components.
In 1980, Dr. Wilde received Certificates of Appreciation from the U.S. Forest Service and the Canadian Forestry Service at the North American Workshop in Nursery Soils at Syracuse, New York.
