Building an International Soil Science

In the late 1800s, several terms described the study of soil, including agrology, agrogeology, agricultural chemistry, and pedology. The term soil science was not used until the early 1900s and became more widely used after the journal Soil Science was established in 1916. In 1908, Peter Treitz from Hungary and Gheorghe Murgoci from Romania traveled to southern Russia to participate in a soil excursion led by Konstantin Glinka. During the excursion, they hatched the idea of bringing together researchers from various countries to present methods and Approaches and seek standardization. The First International Conference of Agrogeology was organized in Budapest in 1909. Several meetings were held after that but the First World War halted progress in the foundation of an international soil science community. The Fourth International Conference of Pedology was held in Rome in 1924 and brought together 300 soil researchers and was the largest soil conference to date. On the last day of the conference, the International Society of Soil Science was established, and six commissions were formed. It was agreed that the First International Congress of Soil Science was to be held in the USA in 1927, and Jacob Lipman was elected as President.