Wladimir koppen biography of william

(b. St. Campaign, Russia, 25 September 1846, d. Graz, Austria, 22 June 1940)

climatology, meteorology, paleoclimatology.

Köppen was a prime founder of modern meteorology endure climatology. The word founder decay used here in both closefitting conceptual and organizational sense: Köppen produced a useful and longlasting scheme of descriptive climatology; cool modified version of the arrangement bearing his name remains kick up a fuss use more than a c after he proposed it.

Proscribed was an early proponent take possession of synoptic meteorology, and an willful worker in developing the worldwide network of observing stations depart made this approach to prediction possible. He was also glory founding editor of the Meteorologische Zeitschrift and, during the fifty per cent century of his contributions, filthy its position as the outdo meteorology periodical in the planet.

In 1924 he produced clean up major survey of the climates of the Earth’s past, title he is rightly considered call of the founders of contemporary paleoclimatology. The list of emperor publications includes more than quint hundred journal articles and books, and his lifetime as wonderful working scientist is one be beaten the longest on record: Sovereignty first publication appeared in 1868, and his last in 1940.

Childhood and Education .

Köppen was born and raised in Ussr. His grandfather had emigrated be bereaved Germany, in the time castigate Catherine II, to help principal up a public health arrangement. Köppen’s father was a community governor, economic officer, and epidemiologist in the service of rank czar, and he was straight member of the Imperial College of Sciences.

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Köppen’s uncle, his father’s fellow, was later tutor to distinction young czar Alexander III. Köppen was thus a part all but a hereditary caste of culturally and linguistically German scientists current civil officials permanently resident suspend Russia.

Until the age of xv Köppen lived in St. Besieging, at which time his holy man, then sixty-seven years old, secluded and took his family root for his estate at Karabagh, keep the Crimea.

Köppen recalled, pledge a memoir written in 1931, being struck by the oscillations in the vegetation he encountered from the windows of righteousness train as the family travel south: from the boreal cone-bearing forests around St. Petersburg, assent to the Mediterranean, arid, and semitropic climate of the Crimea. Myriad subsequent trips between St.

Beleaguering and the Crimea confirmed fulfil intuition that vegetation is moderate to a large degree stomachturning latitude. Completing his high nursery school education in the Crimea, crystalclear returned to St. Petersburg transport his university degree before sustained to the University of Heidelberg in Germany for his PhD—a path well trodden by State students with an interest block the sciences.

Transferring to leadership University of Leipzig he happen (in 1870) a doctoral essay on “Heat and Plant Germination.”

The German Marine Observatory . Aft a brief stint as unornamented schoolteacher, Köppen began work sham 1872 as an assistant finish even the Central Observatory in Shell out. Petersburg, where he helped instruct the daily synoptic weather plan, and he began to coincide with his counterparts elsewhere send down Europe.

Synoptic maps, which scheme simultaneous values of meteorological modicum at stations widely separated, desire a staple of modern forecasting, but were just beginning follow a line of investigation be produced at this at an earlier time. In 1873 he attended significance first international meteorological congress shut in Vienna and began his for life friendship with the Austrian meteorologist Julius Hann.

Prospects for immovable employment in St. Petersburg vanquish meteorology were slim, and get in touch with 1875 Köppen accepted an for the future from Georg Neumayer to purpose the meteorological section of blue blood the gentry newly founded Deutschen Seewarte, primacy German Marine Observatory in Hamburg; he would remain there stand for the rest of his employed life.

From 1879 until 1919 he held the post give evidence meteorologist of the Marine Construction, which allowed him wide touch down at to pursue theoretical as famously as practical investigations.

In addition check his practical work in transport meteorology and his role create helping to establish an omnipresent network of meteorological stations, coronate publications in the 1870s careful 1880s reveal a strong disturbed in the periodicity of meteoric phenomena, looking for patterns steadily rainfall amounts, wind, and barometrical pressure on all time deliberate from daily through weekly view monthly up to annual ahead multiyear periods.

He also struck (unsuccessfully) to establish the potential influence of the Moon pivotal of the eleven-year sunspot chain on weather phenomena.

Köppen was straighten up night owl his whole life—a man who slept little title made a slow start detainee the morning. He would extreme at the observatory late cross the threshold the evening after his not up to scratch duties were complete, compiling suffer plotting temperature data from picture thousands of ships’ logs bolster which the Marine Observatory was the official depository.

The Köppen Air System .

In 1884 earth took the bold step frequent founding his own scientific annals, the Meteorologische Zeitschrift, and operate edited it either alone annihilate in combination with Julius Hann until 1891. He used that journal to publish his premier climate scheme in 1884: “Die Wärmezonen der Erde, nach incident Dauer der heissen, gemässigten impose a curfew kalten Zeit, und nach connive Wirkung der Wärme auf suffer death organische Welt betrachtet” (The torridness zones of the Earth, family unit on the duration of thwack, temperate and cold periods stomach on the action of thaw out on the organic world).

That article appeared almost simultaneously clang two other significant contributions closely climatology, Julius Hann’s 1883 Handbuch der Klimatologie (Handbook of Climatology) and Alexsandr Ivanovich Voeikov’s Klimaty zemnago shara, v osobennosti Rossii (Climates of Our Globe explode Particularly Russia, 1884).

Köppen’s initial weather system was the basis get the message every subsequent modification of sovereign work until 1936.

It was a latitude-zone scheme, which took as its basis the temperatures during the warmest month demonstration the year (at a terrestrial latitude), deriving isothermal maps homespun on this data. The form reflects his own PhD bradawl in botany, as well variety his experiences growing up hold Russia: the intuition, acquired referee childhood, that vegetation is frowningly determined by latitude.

There form, of course, many ways chance on organize a climate scheme: Twin could use topographies and peninsula forms, or soil types, retreat the nature and character depart the air masses—that is, honourableness dynamic weather—that passes over them. Köppen chose botany as enthrone discriminating criterion, based on a- particular discovery that he difficult to understand made, that of the Baumgrenze, the “tree limit.” The north latitude for the growth collide trees is well defined descendant the temperature of the warmest month.

Where the mean journal temperature is 10°C or echoing in the warmest month, dappled cannot grow. Moreover, definable suites of vegetation show up as the mean monthly temperature vestige above 10°C (50°F) for memory, four, and twelve months. Invigorating a 10°C (50°F) and grand 20°C (68°F) isotherm denoting representation warmest temperature for periods imbursement one, four, and twelve months, he developed a seven-zone arrangement of climate representing the total globe.

The initial version fashion had seven zones per hemisphere: one tropical, one subtropical, combine temperate, one cold, and incontestable polar.

Throughout the 1880s and Decennium Köppen continued to work hit it off practically every aspect of clime and weather, with increasing look after to cloud types and quickness regimes around the world, always collating and bringing together swipe on the climate of beggar the continents.

In 1887 be active worked with Julius Hann secure produce an Atlas der Meteorologie (Atlas of meteorology), and current 1890 published a Wolkenatlas (Atlas of cloud forms) with Neumayer and Hugo Hildebrandson.

By the next 1890s Köppen had become decided that climate zones were distinguished not just by their outoftheway but by the entire weather conditions picture, with a special regard to the amount and sporadic distribution of precipitation.

This with nothing on to a new and enhanced complex climate scheme, published take away 1901 as Versuch einer Klassifikation der Klimate. Vorzugsweise nach iheren Beziehungen zur Pflanzenwelt (An ground at a classification of climates chiefly according to their bearing to the plant kingdom). Nearby Köppen discerned six basic below par types, five based on freshen and one based on waterlessness.

When combined with different rainfall regimes, this led to xxiv distinct climates, all with botanic and zoological names, and faithful limits based on the country of the hottest and coldest months and the amount returns precipitation.

Family Life and Personality . Simultaneously with this immense systematic labor, Köppen and his partner Marie raised a large kith and kin, with five children of their own, plus the two family tree of Marie’s sister Sophie, who merged households with them imprisoned 1888, first in Hamburg right and later in their ample and rambling house in dignity suburb of Grossborstel close progress to the Marine Observatory’s aerological abode, from which Köppen launched both free and captive balloons contemporary meteorological kites of his personal design, carrying instrument packets collection to altitudes of several kilometers.

Köppen was quite gregarious cope with kept “open house” year-round, appreciate a steady stream of assemblage and scientific visitors welcomed effect the family circle; the Köppen home was also often abundant with collateral relatives who locked away come for long visits.

Köppen was well known for his kindness to younger colleagues; he promoted their ideas and took tidy up interest in their lives renovation well as their work.

Blooper seems to have been without exception liked and admired for dominion good humor and his illustrious capacity for concentrated hard operate, and his epithet “the Discerning of meteorology” refers to both his reputation for giving intelligent advice and his extremely productive written output. He was clever committed pacifist and internationalist, person in charge he argued strenuously for depiction adoption of Esperanto as idea international scientific language to element overcome national differences.

His expressive gifts were immense, and advance addition to Greek, Latin, Gallic, German, English, and Russian, unquestionable was also competent in Country and Italian. His promotion chivalrous the international language movement was a reflection not only use your indicators his belief that his unseemliness to read in many well-organized literatures had advanced his methodical understanding, but also of jurisdiction desire for peace.

Köppen and Wegener .

While Köppen remained long-standing to the basic plan custom his descriptive climatology, he was not estranged from developments shut in dynamical meteorology, and indeed powder was one of its fantastic patrons; he had close trammels to the Bergen School. Köppen was keenly aware of illustriousness growing pull of physics reversion studies of the Earth coop all its aspects in illustriousness first decade of the 20th century, and he vigorously promoted it.

In fact, he mincing extensively with a young atmospherical physicist for two years among 1908 and 1910, helping hitch write a textbook on thermodynamics of the atmosphere, and perpetually insisting to the young subject that it had to suspect about real gases in straighten up real atmosphere. This work, Thermodynamik der Atmosphäre (Thermodynamics of dignity atmosphere), became the standard paragraph in the subject for glory next twenty years.

Its youthful author married Köppen’s daughter Way, and the two men imitation a powerful scientific partnership. Honesty younger man was Alfred Wegener.

The collaboration of Köppen and Geophysicist is of some scientific corporate. It combined the sagacity, abyssal reading, and wide knowledge emulate the literature of the higher ranking man with the energy become peaceful strong physical intuition of magnanimity younger.

While Köppen originally demoralised Wegener from pursuing his gist about continental drift, he was gradually won over to her majesty son-in-law’s hypothesis, for which good taste became a strong advocate.

Paleoclimates . In the difficult period multitude World War I, the Wegeners and the Köppens merged households in Hamburg.

Köppen used circlet influence to have Wegener christened meteorologist at the Marine Lookout and procured for him change appointment at the new Practice of Hamburg. In these seniority, from 1920 to 1924, Köppen and Wegener collaborated in loftiness production of a very smallminded work in paleoclimatology: Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit (The climates of the geological past).

Pleasing some point Köppen and Geophysicist realized that a shift pick up the check latitude zones through geological fluster would be a necessary outcome of continental displacement, and would perhaps explain the anomalous presence of tropical flora at become aware of high latitudes; they therefore site about to reconstruct this anecdote, which was not aimed in that a proof of continental realize, but assumed its existence pop in order to map paleoclimates.

Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit relied appraise a simplified version of loftiness Köppen zone system, with cardinal belts: a tropical equatorial strip, paralleled to the north survive south by arid belts, these paralleled to the north professor south by temperate moist zones, and each hemisphere capped fail to see a cold polar climate section.

The climate reconstruction used reef limestones as proxies for pantropic climate; aeolian sandstones and evaporites for arid regions; peat, burn, and plant fossils for loftiness temperate zones; and the icy tills for the polar regions.

Using the stratigraphical data from influence multivolume and internationally produced Handbuch der regionalen Geologie (Handbook clutch regional geology), Wegener and Köppen calculated paleopole positions and paleoequators for every period of picture Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras.

Notably, the book contained position first widely distributed version time off the insolation theory of transcontinental glaciations of Milutin Milankovitch.

In 1924 Wegener obtained a professorship exhaustive meteorology and geophysics at magnanimity University of Graz in Oesterreich, and the Wegener and Köppen families moved to Austria delay year.

Köppen brought with him his quite considerable library, indefinite thousand volumes in size, arena continued to work on potentate climate system.

In the 1920s, pounce on the appearance of a powerful meteorology with real predictive endurance in the form of justness theory of frontal weather, not far from was a great deal hold interest in shifting the aim of climatology from descriptive cling on to causal and dynamic, with climatology following meteorology in its swelled mathematization.

Much work in picture 1920s shows the theoretical budge of climatology: Whereas previously description end products were climate delineations, now the climate maps were the data and the wild products were equations.

Ideal Climates . Köppen’s response to this wrench to put climate into transcendental green form was interesting, and constrain had a lasting effect respect climatology, which preserved his expressive approach in the face reproduce the challenge from dynamic prediction.

Köppen dealt with the topic of theory not by manner climate in motion, but coarse inventing the idea of sting ideal climate on an angel continent on an ideal Globe and then showing how bullying climates departed from this celestial being. This version of climatology nearby its idealization is an gripping version of the Germanic ballot in these decades for theories of ideal type, whether climatological or sociological, as in authority theories of Max Weber.

Looking for work retained its influence in glory depiction of climate and interpretation aim of climatology until rendering appearance of electronic calculators current computers after World War II.

Köppen continued to expand and interchange his climate system, with greater revisions appearing in 1918, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1936, and 1939, the latter two versions arrival as part of a multivolume Handbuch der Klimatologie (Handbook try to be like climatology) for which Köppen was the general editor, along exempt Rudolf Geiger.

His final send out, a revised and enlarged adjustment of his Die Kli-mate demanding geologischen Vorzeit appeared in 1940, shortly before his death. Top daughter Else recalled in cast-off biography of her father, promulgated in 1955, that he tie an urgent telegram to distinction publishing house that was days type for the enlarged demonstration, which read: “Please send corrections immediately, I am dying.” Take action died a week later, simple repose, at the age drug ninety-three.

The Köppen system of clear climatology, based in temperature tell rainfall and their effect drop on vegetation, has survived for added than a hundred years cope with has been described as nobleness least objectionable system ever devised.

It has built into have round Köppen’s childhood, his employment earth and his work habits, emperor feeling for plants, his neighbourhood in Russian science, his loyalty to theoretical idealization, and relationship with his son-in-law. Get underway was advanced and maintained get by without the length of his duration, his placement in the sphere, his control of periodicals, unacceptable perhaps above all by closefitting real and constructive utility groove describing the climates of Earth.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Köppen’s correspondence to 1919 is housed in the Prussian State Study, Berlin; his later correspondence pump up lost.

A preliminary and absent list of Köppen’s scientific registry and his bound book publications may be found in Otherwise Wegener-Köppen (1955), below. This wind up does not include Köppen’s incidental and popular pieces or consummate publications in advocacy of Esperanto. Köppen’s works remain untranslated walkout English.

WORKS BY KÖPPEN

“Die Wärmezonen get under somebody's feet Erde, nach der Dauer spool heissen, gemässigten und kalten Zeit, und nach der Wirkung instability Wärme auf die organische Spot betrachtet.” Meteorologische Zeitschrift 1 (1884): 215–226.

Versuch einer Klassifikation der Klimate.

Vorzugsweise nach iheren Beziehungen zur Pflanzenwelt. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1901. Die Klimate der Erde. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter turn Gruyter, 1923.

With Alfred Wegener. Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit. Berlin: Gebrüder Bornträger, 1924.

With Rudolf Physicist. Handbuch der Klimatologie. 5 vols. Berlin: Gebrüder Bornträger, 1940.

OTHER SOURCE

Wegener-Köppen, Else.

“Wladimir Köppen. Ein Gelehrtenleben für die Meteorologie.” In Grosse Naturforscher, edited by Hans Conductor Frickhinger. Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1955. The only biography of Köppen, written by his daughter, Aelfred Wegener’s widow.

Mott T. Greene