Carsten Olsen

Who was Carsten Olsen?

Carsten Erik Olsen was a Danish plant ecologist and plant physiologist, who pioneered the study of plant nutrition in soils of different pH. He was born in Copenhagen and began studies of botany at the University of Copenhagen in 1910, at first with professor Eugenius Warming, then with professor Christen Raunkiær. His doctoral dissertation was on the influence of soil pH on the natural distribution of plants. He was then employed by the Carlsberg Laboratory as an assistant to the chemist S. P. L. Sørensen, later in his own lab. There, he worked on plant uptake of ions, especially iron, nitrogen fixation and calcicolous plants.

Scientific works by Carsten Olsen:

Olsen, C. Vegetationen i nordsjællandske Sphagnummoser. Botanisk Tidsskrift 34, 1-44.

Olsen, C. The structure and biology of Arctic flowering plants. 9. Cornaceae. Meddelelser om Grønland 37, 127-150.

Olsen, Carsten Erik Morfologisk, biologisk og formationsstatistisk Undersøgelse af Mosserne og Karplanterne i de danske Egeskoves og Egekrats Bundflora. Gold medal prize dissertation, University of Copenhagen, 1916. 204 pp.

Olsen, C. Studier over Epifyt-Mossernes Indvandringsfølge paa Barken af vore forskellige Træer, samt et Bidrag til disse Mossers Økologi [Eng. summ.]. Botanisk Tidsskrift 34, 313-342.