Hans Ertel

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Memorial stone , Invalidenstrasse 110, in Berlin-Mitte

Hans Richard Max Ertel (born March 24, 1904 in Berlin ; † July 2, 1971 there ) was a German scientist , pioneer of geophysics , meteorology and hydrodynamics .

life and work

Hans Ertel began his scientific career at the former Prussian Meteorological Institute, where he was shaped and sustainably promoted by representatives of the Austrian school of meteorology ( Heinrich von Ficker and Albert Defant ). The work of Felix Maria von Exner-Ewarten , who lived in Vienna and a leading theoretical meteorologist of his time, continued Ertel and completed many of them. At an early age he developed into a capable theoretical physicist who published research results or theoretical approaches in this subject as a young man. Ertel's famous vorticity theorem ( potential vorticity ) from 1942 is today part of the basic work of modern geo- and cosmysics. In 1940 he joined the NSDAP . From 1934 to 1942 Ertel was an assistant or observator at the Meteorological Institute of Berlin University, where he was also a private lecturer from 1938 and an associate professor from 1941. Hartwig Weidemann , who later became director and professor, department head, department head and deputy head of the marine science department at the German Hydrographic Institute, was among his students .

In 1943 he received the position of full professor of meteorology and geophysics at the University of Innsbruck , and also heard lectures from Arnold Sommerfeld . After the war, Ertel became interested in a professorship for geophysics at the University of Munich.In 1946 he was appointed professor for geophysics at the Berlin University , where he also became director of the university's Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics .

At the invitation of various scientists such as Hilding Köhler , Markus Baath and Else Rossby , with whom he also had a long-standing friendship, Ertel gave lectures at the Swedish University in Stockholm and Uppsala , took part in congresses and thus ensured a good reputation for his research area at the Berlin University.

As a member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW), Ertel founded and headed the Institute for Physical Hydrography at this academy from 1948 . In 1949 Ertel was elected a full member of the DAW and was its vice-president from 1951 to 1961. During this time he initiated the establishment of a number of new academy institutes and also ensured that all-German participation could take place during the International Geophysical Years (1957/58 and 1958/59). In 1955 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

The research on geoecology that began under his direction at the institute is now considered pioneering work. The following main research areas from his time as head of the institute greatly enriched the scientific knowledge and disciplines:

  • physical hydrography (more than 60 papers)
  • theoretical hydrodynamics
  • special hydrodynamics of the northern German lakes and coasts
  • hydraulic nomography
  • hydrographic cartography
  • the weather history of Europe
  • theoretical mechanics (from 1960).

The results of the work were published regularly in international and national journals (e.g. the monthly reports of the German Academy of Sciences ) as well as in the institute's own journal Acta Hydrophysica and quickly led to a high international reputation for his person and his institute.

In addition to his institute, Ertel was responsible for the publication of the journals Gerland's contributions to geophysics , the journal for meteorology , research and progress, and he himself worked on the German literary journal . He continued to give guest lectures abroad, especially at conferences, took part in research trips and supported transnational projects.

Ertel was personally responsible for coastal protection , theoretical geomorphology , meteorological problems and cosmology .

He found his final resting place in the state-owned Hessenwinkel cemetery, Biberpelzstr. 29 in Treptow-Köpenick ( Lage ).

Publications (selection)

He has deposited the following publications in the academy library of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities:

  • Oceanography and hydrography (Hans Ertel) - Bremen (among others): AKGGP / SHGCP, Science Ed., 2006
  • Geophysical hydrodynamics and Ertel's potential vorticity (Hans Ertel) - Bremen: Rönnebeck, 1991
  • A relationship between vortex, vortex acceleration and acceleration potential in flow fields of perfect, incompressible liquids (essay)
  • Stationary drift currents in the ocean with inhomogeneous tangential tension of the wind (essay)
  • Kinematics and dynamics of dimensionally stable moving transverse dunes (essay)
  • Littoral abrasion and sediment transport parallel to the coast (article)
  • The zero surface of the tangential stress in lakes with stationary wind congestion (article)
  • Theory and Distribution of Salinity at the Sea Surface as a Function of Evaporation and Precipitation (Essay)
  • A relationship between the zero surfaces of the velocity and the tangential stress in lakes with stationary wind congestion (Essay)

Trivia

Ertel is the namesake of the Hans-Ertel-Zentrum (HErZ) for weather research, a research network funded under the umbrella of the German Weather Service for basic research to improve weather forecasting and climate monitoring.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hans Ertel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , p. 81.
  2. ↑ Who was who in the GDR? Berlin, 2006, p. 193, column 2, keyword "Ertel, Hans Richard Max", ISBN 3-8289-0552-8
  3. ^ Basic research in the Hans Ertel Center (HErZ). In: Research. German Weather Service , accessed on July 28, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Ertel, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ertel, Hans Richard Max (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German meteorologist and geophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 2nd July 1971
Place of death Berlin