Henrik Breuning-Madsen was born in Frederiksberg. He received a Master degree in physical geography in 1975 and a PhD degree in 1978. In 1983, Breuning-Madsen was awarded a Doctorate degree based on the dissertation “Himmer land’s Soil Conditions” and was subsequently employed at the Ministry of Agriculture. Later, a long and successful university career followed, first as associate professor and in 1991 Breuning-Madsen became full professor of soil geography at the Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen. Breuning-Madsen’s researchwas based on soil retention of water linked to crop root development and thus crop irrigation needs. In the 1980s, Breuning-Madsenworked on a survey of ochre potential soils and developed a new method to map this. Breuning-Madsen was at the same time the leader of a project that collected around 2000 soil profiles, which played a central part for the construction of the Danish Soil Database, which today is among the most detailed soil databases in Europe. From the 1990s BreuningMadsen was involved in establishing a soil analysis database linked to the European soil map, known as European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC). During the period 1991–2015, Breuning-Madsen was responsible for establishing EcoLab, a soil and water analysis laboratory at the University of Ghana in Accra. The purpose was to give Master and Ph.D. students an opportunity to generate empirical data for their dissertations, and hundreds of students have since used the laboratory. Collaboration projects were established between Ghanaian and Danish researchers, and Breuning-Madsen initiated a number of concrete research projects based in Ghana. As part of the activities, Breuning-Madsen initiated the publication of the peer-reviewed journal West African Journal of Applied Ecology. In 1993, a series of unexplainable iron oxide layers were discovered in a Bronze Age burial mound in Denmark. Based on chemical analyses from several burial mounds and the construction of experimental mounds at the Lejre Historical Archaeological Research Centre, BreuningMadsen concluded, that it was the redox processes, which created the iron layers that surround coffins buried in Bronze Age mounds. In 2009, his research focussed on the origins of layers of peat and conserved vegetation in the famous Jelling burial mounds in central Jutland, Denmark. He concluded that the carbon content of clay soil in the VikingAgewas clearly higher than the averagemodern clay soil. This was attributed to the drainage of clay soils after 1850. These projects are exemplary of his great interest in historical and archaeological research, which became the focus of many innovative projects, frequently in collaboration with the National Museum in Denmark. Henrik Breuning-Madsen played a key role in the management of the Royal Danish Geographical Society for several decades. He joined the Society management as a board member in 2004 and was elected vice-president in 2015, a position he held with great commitment until his death. He contributed by giving several Society lectures based on his research and served as Editor in chief of the Danish Journal of Geography for several years. Hewas deeply involved in bothmodernizing the Society as well as making its collection of historical findings and assets accessible. These include the digitization of the Society’s photo archive consisting of more than 70,000 images taken on travels and expeditions across the globe since the early1900’s. Henrik Breuning-Madsen was one of the driving forces behind a large, ongoing book project on Danish expedition history, which in collaboration with the National Museum and with funds from the Augustinus Foundation will portray landmark Danish expeditions. The Royal Danish Geographical Society has lost a great personality and a good friend. Professor Henrik BreuningMadsen will always be remembered for his significant contribution to Geography and dedicated service to the Society as well as his many academic achievements.

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Henrik Breuning-Madsen (1949-2018)

Henrik Breuning-Madsen 出生于腓特烈斯贝格。1975年获自然地理学硕士学位，1978年获博士学位。1983年，Breuning-Madsen以论文“Himmer土地的土壤条件”获得博士学位，随后在农业部工作。后来，他开始了漫长而成功的大学生涯，先是担任副教授，1991 年 Breuning-Madsen 成为哥本哈根大学地理系土壤地理学的正教授。Breuning-Madsen 的研究基于与作物根系发育以及作物灌溉需求相关的土壤保水。在 1980 年代，Breuning-Madsen 对赭石潜在土壤进行了调查，并开发了一种新的绘制方法。同时，Breuning-Madsen 是一个收集了大约 2000 份土壤剖面的项目的负责人，该项目在丹麦土壤数据库的建设中发挥了核心作用，如今该数据库已成为欧洲最详细的土壤数据库之一。从 1990 年代开始，BreuningMadsen 参与建立了一个与欧洲土壤地图相关联的土壤分析数据库，称为欧洲土壤数据中心 (ESDAC)。1991 年至 2015 年期间，Breuning-Madsen 负责在阿克拉的加纳大学建立了 EcoLab，这是一个土壤和水分析实验室。目的是给硕士和博士学位。学生有机会为他们的论文生成经验数据，此后数百名学生使用了实验室。加纳和丹麦研究人员之间建立了合作项目，和 Breuning-Madsen 在加纳发起了许多具体的研究项目。作为活动的一部分，Breuning-Madsen 发起了同行评审期刊《西非应用生态学杂志》的出版。1993 年，在丹麦的一个青铜时代墓地中发现了一系列无法​​解释的氧化铁层。BreuningMadsen 根据几个墓葬的化学分析和 Lejre 历史考古研究中心的实验性土墩的建造得出结论，正是氧化还原过程在青铜时代土墩中埋葬的棺材周围形成了铁层。2009 年，他的研究重点是丹麦日德兰半岛中部著名的 Jelling 墓地泥炭层和保护植被的起源。他得出结论，维京时代黏土的碳含量明显高于现代黏土的平均含量。这要归功于 1850 年后粘土的排水。这些项目体现了他对历史和考古研究的浓厚兴趣，成为许多创新项目的重点，经常与丹麦国家博物馆合作。几十年来，Henrik Breuning-Madsen 在丹麦皇家地理学会的管理中发挥了关键作用。He joined the Society management as a board member in 2004 and was elected vice-president in 2015, a position he held with great commitment until his death. 他根据自己的研究在社会上发表了几次讲座，并担任了几年丹麦地理杂志的主编。他深入参与了该协会的现代化以及使其收集的历史发现和资产易于访问。其中包括协会的照片档案的数字化，其中包含 70,000 多张自 20 世纪早期以来在全球旅行和探险中拍摄的图像。Henrik Breuning-Madsen 是正在进行的关于丹麦探险历史的大型图书项目的推动者之一，该项目与国家博物馆合作，并在奥古斯丁基金会的资助下，将描绘具有里程碑意义的丹麦探险。丹麦皇家地理学会失去了一位伟大的人格和一位好朋友。Henrik BreuningMadsen 教授将永远铭记他对地理学的重大贡献和对学会的热诚服务以及他的许多学术成就。