Christoph Buys Ballot

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CHD Buys Ballot

Christophorus Henricus Didericus Buys Ballot German also: Christoph Heinrich Dietrich Buijs Ballot (born October 10, 1817 in Kloetinge , municipality of Goes , province of Zeeland ; † February 3, 1890 in Utrecht ) was an important Dutch scientist , founder of meteorology in the Netherlands and initiator international climate research.

Life

Origin and Studies

Ballot came from a family that had its roots in France and immigrated to the Netherlands via Germany. Some members of this family took up the profession of pastor. Ballot's grandfather Christoph Heinrich Dietrich Ballot (born January 16, 1741 in Iserlohn ; † August 20, 1797 in Middelburg ), had completed his studies at the University of Utrecht and held several parish positions until he finally came to Middelburg. Here he made a name for himself as a promoter of the natural sciences . In 1788 he became a high school professor for physics in Middelburg. Antonie Jacobus Buys Ballot (born March 19, 1786 in Middelburg; † January 13, 1851 in Utrecht) comes from his second marriage to the merchant's daughter Anna Petronella Buys (* July 30, 1755 in Rotterdam ; † October 2, 1829 in Rotterdam) . He also studied in Utrecht, became a pastor in Standdaarbuiten in 1814 and married Geertruida Francoisa Lix Raaven (* May 28, 1790 in Utrecht; † January 19, 1859 in Utrecht), the daughter of Willem Lix Raaven (* 1756 - June 27, 1832 in Utrecht) and Wilhelmina Susanna Kuvel (* around 1775 - January 6, 1848 in Utrecht).

In 1816 Antonie Buys Ballot was given a pastor's post in the small village of Kloetinge. The couple's only child was born here in 1817, and it was named after their grandfather. In 1820 his father moved to a pastor's position in the village of Sint Laurens and in 1823 he became a pastor in Brakel in the Bommelerwaard region , where he remained until his retirement in 1850. There the young Ballot experienced his childhood and attended the village school in Brakel. Here he developed a fondness for mathematics and classical literature. After attending grammar school in Zaltbommel in 1830 , where he obtained his university entrance qualification on August 7, 1835, Ballot enrolled at Utrecht University on September 11, 1835. Initially he only wanted to study the classical languages, but in 1836 he turned to the natural sciences. So he initially attended the lectures of Antonie van Goudoever in Latin, Philipp Wilhelm van Heusde in Ancient Greek and Ancient History and Lodewijk Gerard Visscher in Dutch history. His formative teachers later became Nicolaas Cornelis de Fremery and Gerardus Johannes Mulder in chemistry, mineralogy and geology as well as Johannes Friedrich Ludwig Schröder , Gerard Moll and Richard van Rees in physics, mathematics and astronomy. Theodoor Gerard van Lidth de Jeude made him familiar with zoology and anatomy and Cornelis Adriaan Bergsma with botany.

Scientific career and achievement

Ballot in 1857

Ballot's first scientific treatise on xylidines appeared in 1842, and in 1843 it was also published in three German and French journals. On June 29, 1844 he received his doctorate with the physical treatise on cohesion and adhesion with the title De Synaphia et Prosaphia to the doctor of natural sciences. On June 3rd and 5th, 1845, Ballot proved the Doppler effect in an unorthodox way by posting trumpeters on moving trains on the railway line between Utrecht and Maarssen . Shortly thereafter, in July 1845, he received a position as a lecturer in mineralogy and geology at the Utrecht University, which was expanded in 1846 to include theoretical chemistry. During this time Ballot was already concerned with molecular forces, about which he wrote in his work Schets eener Physiologie van het onbewehensuigde rijk der natuur (German: Sketches of a Physiology of the Organic Natural Kingdom ). This work was widely recognized. On September 11, 1847 he was appointed associate professor for experimental physics in Utrecht. He took over the task on November 16, 1847 with the inaugural speech Het karakter der rede, uitgedrukt in de wiskunde .

In the same year he published a study on periodic temperature fluctuations, and the following year he and his friend Frederik Wilhelm Christiaan Krecke (1812–1882) founded the meteorological observatory on the Sonnenborgh bastion in Utrecht at their own expense . On February 1, 1854, this became the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute ( KNMI ), of which Ballot was director until the end of his life. On his initiative, weather observations were made all over the Netherlands, through which the connection between air pressure and wind direction was recognized. As a result, Ballot was able to formulate the Barische Windgesetz ( Buys-Ballot law ) in 1857 , which is of great importance for the marine weather service to this day. Although James Henry Coffin (1806–1873) and William Ferrel are said to have discovered this rule in America first, Ballot also found a practical example of application for determining the wind direction. As a result of this knowledge, telegraphic storm warnings were introduced in the Netherlands on June 1, 1860. On June 24, 1857, he was appointed professor of mathematics, which he took on on July 3. As a mathematician, he stood out particularly through his textbook on planimetry . In his capacity as a Utrecht professor, Ballot also took part in the organizational tasks of the university and was rector of the alma mater in 1863/64 .

Ballot endeavored to expand its network of weather observation centers beyond the borders of the Netherlands. That is why he sought ways to international cooperation in this area at an early stage. Already Heinrich Wilhelm Dove had tried in 1863 on a scientific congress in Geneva, bringing together researchers from different European countries to exchange meteorological observations. That failed, however, so Ballot took up these efforts again in Leipzig in 1872 and at the First International Meteorological Congress in Vienna in 1873. In the run-up to this meeting, Ballot published his work Suggestions on a uniform system of meteorological observations , in which his ideas for the creation of an international meteorological observation network were published. Many participants in the congress shared his views, so that a first form of international cooperation in the field of meteorology emerged within the framework of this congress. In 1876 Ballot was again professor of experimental physics, physical geography and meteorology. In 1878 the chair was reduced to meteorology. He developed a device for the storm warning, which he called the aeroclinoscope.

When Carl Weyprecht began promoting the First International Polar Year in 1875 , Ballot was its most ardent supporter in the Netherlands. He represented his country in 1879 at the first conference to prepare for the polar year in Hamburg , which decided to set up research stations around the polar regions for 1881 to 1882. Back in the Netherlands, Ballot turned to both his government and the public with a request for financial support for a Dutch Arctic station. As in other countries, raising the necessary funds proved difficult, which is why the project was postponed to the period from August 1882 to August 1883. Finally, in July 1882, Ballot received a grant of 30,000 guilders from the government, provided the remaining money was donated by private organizations or individuals. Ballot then intensified his public relations work and asked the Willem Barents Society, which had sent the schooner Willem Barents to Novaya Zemlya every year since 1878 to set memorial stones and collect scientific results, for help, which he was refused. Ballot founded support committees in all major cities in the country and by the spring of 1882 managed to raise the necessary funds so that the expedition could take place. However, this did not reach its intended station at Dikson at the mouth of the Yenisei in Siberia due to difficult ice conditions in the Kara Sea . The station was built on the pack ice and carried out the planned meteorological observations. The expedition ship Varna was abandoned in 1883. The participants of the expedition were able to save themselves in August 1883 after a 24-day walk across the ice to the island of Waigatsch .

Honors

Honor plaque and relief on the house where Ballot was born

The scientist, widely respected in his time, received many honors. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh . On February 25, 1860 he became a Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion . In 1874 he received the Commander's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order . In the same year he became the commander of the Order of St. Jacob of the Sword of Portugal. He received the Prussian Royal Crown Order of the Second Class and the Golden Huygens Medal from the Dutch Society of Sciences in Haarlem. Nationally he became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in Amsterdam in 1855 , was a member of the Genootschap tot bevordering van Genees-, Heel- en Natuurkunde in Amsterdam, a member of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen in Haarlem, a member of the Maatschappij tot Nut der Zeevaart in Rotterdam, Member of the Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot bevordering der Nijverheid in Delft, member of the Vereeniging tot bevordering der Volksgezondheid in Groningen, member of the Nederlandsche Maatschappij van Letterkunde in Leiden, member of the Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen in Edam, member of the Nederlandsche Protestantenbond in Schiedam and member the Koninklijk Zeeuwsch Genootschap of Wetenschappen in Middelburg.

International memberships followed in the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, in 1882 in the Leopoldina in Halle (Saale), in the Scottish Meteorological Society, in 1887 in the Swiss Natural Research Society , in 1849 in the Physical Society in Berlin , in the Society of German Naturalists and Doctors , the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg, in the Société des Sciences Naturelles in Luxembourg, in the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society , in the Natural Research Society in Emden , in the Wetterauische Gesellschaft , in the Società Meteorologica Italiana , in the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique , in the Royal Society of Arts , in the Natural Research Association in Riga, in the Imperial Royal Geological Institute in Vienna, in the Societas Scientiarum Fennica in Finland, in the Royal Prussian Academy of the sciences in Berlin, in the quays at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Moscow, in the Société de Statistique in Marseille and in the Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles.

He was also made an honorary member of the Austrian Society for Meteorology , the Society for Geography in Berlin, the Société de médicine in Anvers, the Royal Meteorological Society in London, the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg, the Natural Research Society in Bamberg , the Maatschappij Felix Meritis in Amsterdam, the Koninklijk Zoölogisch Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra in Amsterdam, the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap (KNAG) and he was a consulting member of the Bataafsch Genootschap of the proefondervindelijke Wijsbegeerte in Rotterdam. On September 18, 1888, he retired for reasons of age and died of the effects of influenza . Many streets in Dutch towns are named after Ballot. The asteroid (10961) Buysballot and the lunar crater Buys-Ballot also bear his name, and it is a regular tradition that the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences awards the Buys-Ballot Medal once per decade for outstanding achievements in the field of meteorology. In recognition of his services, a plaque of honor was placed on the house where he was born, above which his relief is emblazoned.

family

Ballot family coat of arms

Christoph Buys Ballot was married twice. His first marriage was on July 27, 1848 in Utrecht with Elisabeth Hester Thierry de Bije (* April 4, 1817 in Utrecht; † December 7, 1850 there), the daughter of Cornelis Sebastian Thierry de Bije (* around 1790 in Rotterdam; † June 27, 1829 in Utrecht) and Jacoba de Brueys. His second marriage was on January 24, 1856 in Utrecht with Augustina Fredrica Carolina Hoogeveen (born February 14, 1827 in Antwerp, † April 20, 1879 in Utrecht), the daughter of Krijn Hoogeveen (born March 8, 1789 in Utrecht; † February 15, 1869 in Utrecht) and Martha Kinnema van Scheltinga Bögel (born October 27, 1788 in Leeuwarden; † February 3, 1875 in Utrecht). Children come from marriages. We know of these:

  • Francina Geertuida Jacoba Buys Ballot (born May 14, 1849 in Utrecht; † November 25, 1850 ibid)
  • Cornelis Sebastian Buys Ballot (born November 22, 1850 in Utrecht, † July 13, 1928 in Heerde)
  • Geertruida Antonia Buys Ballot (born May 19, 1858 in Utrecht; † October 15, 1911 ibid)
  • Martinus Quirinus Buys Ballot (* July 23, 1860 in Utrecht, † January 20, 1947 in Voorburg) became an artillery officer and mayor in Veere, married November 10, 1891 in Roermond to Mathilde Gertrude Therese Marie Bloemen (* August 4, 1864 in Roermond; † October 23, 1935 in Voorburg), the daughter of Francis Bloemen (born April 3, 1822 in Venlo; † February 12, 1908 in Maastricht) and Josephine Cecile Linssen (born September 24, 1835 in Paris; † 5. January 1889 in Roermond)
  • Henriette Elisabeth Buys Ballot (born May 10, 1862 in Utrecht, † April 1, 1939 in Hattem) m. May 27, 1886 in Utrecht with the infantry officer Jacques Suermondt (* March 12, 1860 in Rotterdam; † April 19, 1930 in Hattem) Captain of the infantry, son of Barthold Jacob Suermondt (* May 31, 1810 in Rotterdam; † 18 August 1878 in Amersfoort) and the Geertruya Cornelia van Santen Kolff (* July 15, 1814 in Rotterdam; † July 28, 1894 in Zwijndrecht)
  • NN. Buys Ballot (* + † February 7, 1865 in Utrecht)
  • August Buys Ballot (born June 29, 1866 in Utrecht; † July 1, 1866 there)
  • August Christoffel Buys Ballot (born November 16, 1867 in Utrecht; † July 15, 1936 in Doorn) married on June 13, 1896 in Göttingen to Anna Emilie Amanda Sesse (born April 25, 1875 in Ackendorf near Magdeburg), the daughter of Wilhelm Sesse and Anna Emilie Vorbrodt

Fonts (selection)

  • Repertory corpum organicorum. Utrecht 1846.
  • Tabulae Repertoriae Chemicae. Schets eener Physiologie van het onbewecktuigde ryk der natuur. Utrecht 1849.
  • Gronden eener wiskundige plaatsbepaling op den hemel en aardbol. 1849.
  • Les changements periodiques de temperature dependants de la nature du soleil et de la lune etc. dedits d'observations neerlandaises de 1729-1846. Utrecht 1847.
  • Uitkomsten der meteorologische Waarnemingen in 1849 and 1850 in Utrecht and on some other plaatsen in the Netherlands. Utrecht 1851.
  • Uitkomsten van wetenschap en ervaring aangaande winden en zeestroomingen in somminge gedeelten van den Oceaan etc .. Utrecht 1853.
  • Acoustic experiments aud d. Dutch railways to test Doppler theory. In: Poggendorf's annals. LXVI. 1845.
  • Dependence of the crystalline form of the minerals on their atoms. In: Poggendorf's annals. LXVII, 1846.
  • Influence of the rotation of the sun on the temperature of our atmosphere. In Poggendorf's annals. LXVIII, 1846.
  • Thermal effect of the moon. In: Poggendorf's annals. LXX, 1847.
  • Confirmation of the rotation time of the sun. In: Poggendorff's annals. LXXXIV, 1851.
  • Graphical method for the simultaneous representation of the weather phenomena in many places. In: Poggendorf's annals. Supplementary Volume IV, 1854.
  • De jaarlike gang van temperatur en barometerstand in Nederland. In: General Konst en Letterbode. 1853.
  • Begins en gronden the meeting customer. Utrecht 1852, 1856, 1860.
  • There are some rules in front of the weersveranderingen in the Netherlands. Utrecht 1860.
  • Climateat van Nederland. 1861 2nd volumes.

literature

Web links

Commons : Christophorus Henricus Didericus Buys Ballot  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louwren's Hacquebord: The Netherlands - Beset in the Ice of the Kara Sea . In: Susan Barr, Cornelia Lüdecke (Ed.): The History of the International Polar Years (IPYs) . Springer, Berlin and Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12401-3 , pp. 63–65 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-642-12402-0 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  2. ↑ Member entry of Christoph Heinrich Buys-Ballot at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 12, 2015.
  3. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
personal data
SURNAME Buys Ballot, Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buys Ballot, Christophorus Henricus Didericus; Buys Ballot, Christoph Heinrich Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch scientist, founder of meteorology in the Netherlands and initiator of international climate research
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Kloetinge , municipality of Goes , province of Zeeland
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 1890
Place of death Utrecht