François-Alphonse Forel

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François-Alphonse Forel

François-Alphonse Forel (born February 2, 1841 in Morges , Switzerland ; † August 7, 1912 there ) was a Swiss doctor , naturalist and founder of limnology .

Life

Forel came from a respected family in Vaud and was a cousin of the psychiatrist Auguste Forel . He studied medicine and science in Geneva , Montpellier , Paris and Würzburg , where he was active as the zootomy prosector from 1866 to 1867. He then worked as a professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Lausanne , where he had become an associate professor in 1870. In addition, he devoted himself to his passion, the investigation of lakes, especially Lake Geneva . He researched the biology, chemical properties, water circulation and sediment formation in lakes and their interrelationships. In doing so, he laid the foundation for a new branch of science. Forel's work on Lake Geneva in 1886 prompted the President of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , Count Eberhard von Zeppelin , to undertake precise mapping and scientific research into Lake Constance . Forel participated in this company; his contributions, translated into German by Zeppelin, appeared as supplements ( Bodensee-Forschungen ) to the writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. In 1893 the association made him an honorary member.

He published his discoveries between 1892 and 1904 in a three-volume work entitled "Le Léman: Monographie limnologique" . In reference to oceanography , he called his research limnology. Forel discovered the phenomenon of density fluxes in lakes and found an explanation for the seiches . He also developed a way of determining the color of a body of water. This so-called Forel-Ule scale is still partially used today, but was later replaced by more precise methods.

In addition to studying hydrology, he devoted himself to studying earthquakes and, together with Michele Stefano de Rossi (1834–1898), developed the Rossi-Forel scale for classifying earthquakes according to their intensity .

The Institut François-Alphonse Forel (F.-A. Forel) at the University of Geneva was named after him, as was the Forel Glacier in Antarctic Grahamland and Mont Forel in Greenland . Since 1891 Forel was a member of the Leopoldina and since 1910 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

Works

  • Note on the découverte faite à Schussenried de l'homme contemporain du renne. Lausanne 1867
  • Contributions to the history of the development of the naiads. Wuerzburg 1867
  • Introduction à l'étude de la faune profonde du lac Leman. Lausanne 1869
  • Experiences on the temperature of the human body in the acte de l'ascension on the montagnes. Lausanne 1871–74, 3 series
  • Report sur l'étude scientifique du lac Leman. Lausanne 1872
  • Études sur les seiches du lac Leman. Lausanne 1873 a. 1875
  • La faune profonde du lac Leman. Lausanne 1873 a. 1874
  • Material for the service of the faune profonde du lac Léman. Lausanne 1874–79
  • Contributions à l'étude de la limnimétrie du lac Léman. Lausanne 1877–81
  • Les causes des seiches. Archives de physique, 1878
  • Températures lacustres. Archives de physique, 1880
  • Seiches et vibrations des lacs et de la mer. Paris 1880
  • Les variations périodiques des glaciers des Alpes; Reports annuels. Geneva 1881 a. 1882, Bern 1883 ff.
  • Les tremblements de terre, étudiés par la commission sismologique suisse. Archives de Genève, 1881 ff.
  • Limnimétrie du Léman. With Emile Plantamour, Lausanne 1881
  • The pelagic fauna of the freshwater lakes. Biological Zentralblatt, Erlangen 1882
  • Fauns profonde des lacs suisses. Geneva 1885
  • Le lac Léman. 2nd edition, Geneva 1886
  • Les microorganismes pélagiques des lacs de la région subalpine. Revue scientifique, 1887
  • La thermique de la Méditerranée. Geneva 1891
  • Le Léman. Monograph limnologique. Lausanne 1892–1901
  • The temperature conditions of Lake Constance. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 22, 1893, appendix p. 1–30 (Bodensee-Forschungen, 4th section)
  • Transparency and color of the Lake Constance water. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 22, 1893, appendix p. 31-46 (Bodensee-Forschungen, 5th section)
  • The fluctuations in Lake Constance. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 22, 1893, appendix p. 47-77 (Bodensee-Forschungen, 6th section)
  • Handbook of seology. Stuttgart 1901

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Hildebrand: Rudolf Albert von Koelliker and his circle. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 3, 1985, pp. 127-151, here: p. 137.
  2. ↑ Harald Derschka : The association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. A look back at one hundred and fifty years of club history 1868-2018. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 136, 2018, pp. 1–303, here: pp. 83 f.
  3. ^ Forel, François Alphonse. Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6th edition 1905–1909, online edition from Zeno
  4. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 5, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Forel, François-Alphonse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor, naturalist and founder of limnology
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Morges , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1912
Place of death Morges , Switzerland