Journal of the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering, Vol.70, No.5, 2018

A consideration on footprint of Amerigo HOFMANN, foreign professor of SABO laboratory, the Imperial University of Tokyo

Haruo NISHIMOTO

In 1900 the Laboratory of Forest Hydrology and Erosion Control Engineering (SABO) was founded in the Imperial University of Tokyo (present the University of Tokyo), which was the first educational organization for studying and learning this field. As the first foreign teacher for teaching SABO, Karl Hefele was chosen and came to Tokyo in1901.He did not have much knowledge about SABO, then he returned to Germany only2years later. After then Amerigo Hofmann became the teacher holding the Laboratory of SABO and stayed in Tokyo about5years. He left many footprints which are not only “Hofmann works" in Seto city, Aichi prefecture, but also many papers and books published in Austria and in Italy before or after coming back to Europe. “Hofmann works" is very famous as the performance of Amerigo Hofmann in Japan, however this is only one result which is distinctly known as his performance in Japan. And the detailed career of Amerigo Hofmann is not known in Japan. In this paper the footprints of Amerigo Hofmann are described in the incipient period of modern SABO on the basis of literature and field investigation. This paper is to contribute to the future exchange between Japan and European countries in the field of SABO based on these historical relationships.

Key wordsFAmerigo Hofmann, Foreign teacher of SABO, footprint


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