Hermann Flohn

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Hermann Flohn (born February 19, 1912 in Frankfurt am Main ; † June 23, 1997 in Bonn ) was an internationally renowned German meteorologist and climatologist .

Live and act

After graduating from high school, Flohn began to study geography , meteorology , geophysics and geology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and the University of Innsbruck . After receiving his doctorate in 1934 on a topic from geomorphology , he worked from 1935 as an assistant at the Reich Weather Service , including with Karl Knoch . From 1938 to 1939 he was head of the Bad Elster Bioclimatic Research Center . After completing his habilitation in 1941, Flohn worked as a councilor in the weather service at the Air Force High Command . After the war he was imprisoned until April 1946.

After his release, Flohn worked for the German Weather Service in the US zone from May 1946 , which was transferred to the German Weather Service in 1952. There he was from 1958 in the rank of government director until 1961 head of the research department.

In 1961 he followed a call to the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn and became director of the newly founded Meteorological Institute. In 1977 Flohn retired. Even as an emeritus he remained connected to the institute and worked on numerous projects.

Work and reception

Climate classification according to Flohn

As early as 1941 he had formulated one of the most important topics of today's climate research: "This means that human activity becomes the cause of a global climate change, the future significance of which nobody can foresee." His activities also focused on researching the dynamics of the climate system a basic climate classification . He worked u. a. also about the general circulation of the atmosphere , subtropical strong winds ( jets ) in the upper troposphere , tropical meteorology and monsoon climates .

Flohn enjoys great recognition in climate research and is also regarded internationally as one of the most important climatologists of the post-war period. In The Encyclopedia of World Climatology , published in 2005, Flohn is referred to as "one of the world's greatest climatologists".

Flohn received numerous - also international - honors, including a. 1973 the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and 1983 the Alfred Wegener Medal of the German Meteorological Society . In 1991 he became a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and in 1993 he received the State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia . In 1961 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . Since 1966 he was a member of the Leopoldina , whose Cothenius Medal he received in 1985.

Fonts

Important book publications:

  • Weather and climate in Central Europe. 2nd Edition. Research on German regional studies , 78, S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart 1954.
  • with Hans von Rudloff: The fluctuations and fluctuations of the climate in Europe since the beginning of regular instrument observations . Braunschweig 1967, DNB 457982187 .
  • The problem of climate change in the past and future . (= Income from research, volume 220). Scientific Book Society Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-534-08889-1 .
  • Greenhouse Effect of the Atmosphere: New Facts and Perspectives . 1990, ISBN 3-531-08379-1 .
  • Large-scale current climate changes: anthropogenic interventions and their repercussions in the climate system . 1994, ISBN 3-925851-39-9 .

Selected publications:

  • Contributions to the problem of the valley meanders. In: Frankfurter Geographische Hefte , 9, Heft 1, 1-96. (= Diss. Frankfurt 1934).
  • Human activity as a climate factor. In: Z. f. Geography. 9, 1941, pp. 13-22.
  • Contributions to a meteorology of the Tibetan highlands. In: Atmospheric Science Paper. 130, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 1968.
  • Le temps et le climat. In: L´Univ. Connaissances. Hachette, Paris 1968.
  • Clima y tiempo. In: Biblioteca para el Hombre Actual. Ediciones Guadarrama, Madrid 1968.
  • Climate and Weather. In: World Univ. Library. McGraw-Hill, New York 1969.
  • Local wind systems. In: World survey of climatology. Vol. 2, General climatology 2, Elsevier, Amsterdam 1969, pp. 139-171.
  • Work on general climatology. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1971.
  • Climate and Energy: A Scenario to a 21st Century Problem. In: Climatic Change . 1, 1977, pp. 5-20.
  • Do climate anomalies endanger world nutrition? In: Image of Science. 12/1978, pp. 132-139.
  • Climatology as a Geophysical Science. In: Climate Monitor. Special Edition, 3/1979, Hubert Lamb - Professor Emeritus. Pp. 10-18. (Dedicated to H. Lamb on his 65th birthday)
  • Summary Review and some thoughts on future climatic evolutions. In: NES Colleque International: Evolution des Atmosphères Planetaires et Climatologie de la Terre, Nice 16-20 Oct. 1978. 1979, pp. 569-574.
  • Possible Climatic Consequences of a Man-Made Global Warming. In: Working Paper, Internat. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, 1979, WP 79-86. (also in Internat. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, RR-80-30, Dec. 1980)
  • Man's increasing impact on climate: Atmospheric Processes. In: N. Polunin (Ed.): Growth without ecodisaster? Proc. 2nd intern. Conf. Environmental Future. Reykjavik, June 1977. McMillan Press, London 1980, pp. 31-44. (Discussion pp. 45–59)
  • Possible climatic consequences of a man-made global warming. In: R. Kavanagh (Ed.): Energy System Analysis. Proc. Intern. Conf. Dublin, 9-11 Oct. 1979. D. Reidel Publ. Comp., Dordrecht 1980, pp. 558-568. (1981: Life on a warmer Earth, Possible climatic consequences of man-made global warming. Executive Report 3, based on research by H. Flohn, Intern. Inst. For Applied System Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg, p. 59 ff.)
  • Possible Climatic Consequences of a Man-Made Global Warming . 1980.
  • Life on a Warmer Earth - Possible Climatic Consequences of Man-Made Global Warming . 1981.
  • with R. Fantechi: The climate of Europe: Past, Present and Future. D. Reidel Publ. Comp., Dordrecht 1984.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. CD Craig: Flohn, Hermann. In: The Encyclopedia of World Climatology. 2005, p. 379.
  2. Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 190, October 9, 1973.
  3. ^ Member entry by Hermann Flohn at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 16, 2016.
  4. ^ Member entry by Hermann Flohn at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 16, 2016.