Jürgen Kesselmeier stepps down as co-editor-in-chief of BG

29 May 2017

We would like to thank Prof. Jürgen Kesselmeier for his great inspiration and dedication to the journal Biogeosciences over the past 13 years. Jürgen recently stepped down from his position as co-editor-in-chief of Biogeosciences. Together with Prof. Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Jürgen founded the journal in 2003, as described in the message of Jean-Pierre below. Under their stewardship, the journal made rapid strides, becoming equally popular among the terrestrial and marine biogeoscientists. Jean-Pierre stepped down from his position as co-editor-in-chief in 2008, but Jürgen continued to lead the Editorial Board. As the senior chief editor, Jürgen has always been a source of great inspiration, advice, and guidance at times of uncertainty and major decisions. We cannot thank Jürgen enough for what he has done for Biogeosciences since its inception. On behalf of the entire editorial board we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Prof. Anja Rammig has joined as a new co-editor-in-chief.

Michael Bahn, Katja Fennel, Wajih Naqvi, Anja Rammig

Message from Prof. Jean-Pierre Gattuso

"In 2000, I proposed to The European Geophysical Society to launch an Interdisciplinary working group on Biogeosciences. This proposal was immediately accepted by its President, André Berger. This group became the Biogeosciences division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in 2002.

Ulrich Pöschl launched the new and very innovative journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics in 2001. Considering the success of this journal and the potential for a successful journal for the Biogeosciences Division, Arne Richter, Executive Secretary of the EGU, pressed me to launch such a journal. I was honoured but also found the task daunting considering the breadth of disciplines covered under Biogeosciences. Being an oceanographer, I wanted to find a co-editor-in-chief who would cover terrestrial aspects. Ulrich Pöschl suggested Jürgen Kesselmeier, a top scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany.

Jürgen, Arne, and I met for one day at Frankfurt airport under the auspices of the EGU. Jürgen and I decided to go ahead and plan the launch of the journal Biogeosciences. We followed the steps of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, assembled an editorial board, and made final arrangements at the Fall Meeting of the AGU in 2003. The journal was launched in 2004 and became a top journal of its field.

I enormously appreciated working with Jürgen and believe that we made a good pair. Jürgen is a very dedicated scientist, very easy to work with, and with very high scientific and publishing standards. In fact, I was a little sad that I had to step down from my position of editor-in-chief of Biogeosciences in 2008 because I was so proud and very much valued our collective achievements. I nevertheless continued to interact with Jürgen as a regular editor.

The Biogeosciences community owes a great deal to Jürgen Kesselmeier. On its behalf, I would like to warmly thank Jürgen for his dedication and hard work, and wish him all the best in his next endeavours."