Hermann habenicht

Tomb of Hermann habenicht in the main cemetery in Gotha

Hermann habenicht (born March 3, 1844 in Gotha ; † March 30, 1917 ibid) was a German cartographer at the Geographical Institute in Gotha.

Have not worked at the institute for 55 years from the beginning of his apprenticeship until he retired. During this time he has worked his way up from a cartographer to the initiator and designer of maps and atlases.

Life

Hermann habenicht was born the son of a porcelain painter and modeller and attended the Gotha secondary school, where he was noticed early on by the teaching staff who recommended him to the cartographic institute of Justus Perthes as an apprentice drawing. In 1859, at the age of 15, habenicht began his training under the direction of the famous cartographer August Petermann . Petermann soon recognized and promoted the young draftsman's special talent for terrain drawing, the representation of the shape of the terrain through hatching, lines and height information.

Have not received the order from Petermann to carry out the relief representation on maps for the scientific publications of the institute and in particular for "Stieler's Hand Atlas". He achieved his goal of creating a ... scientifically exact, artistically perfect, vivid representation of the natural soil design , particularly when working outside of Europe. By carefully comparing maps and geographical , geomorphological and geological literature, he was also able to bridge areas with insufficient or unreliable sources. Have not played a decisive role in the success and good reputation of the Gothaer maps at home and abroad, as he made excellent terrain drawings. It was he who played a decisive role in the success and work of the "Justus Perthes Geographical Institute" in Gotha in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The have-nothing activities in the field of school cartography, especially his methodology for building school atlases, deserved special recognition. Today school atlases are still built according to his method: The pupils first get to know their homeland, which is shown on a large scale, then the distant countries and continents shown on a smaller scale.

Only after the death of August Petermann, his teacher, in 1878, did habenicht have the opportunity to fully develop his skills and to independently conceptualize and design his own maps. First he had to continue editing the 7th edition (1879–1882) of “ Stieler's Hand Atlas ”, for which he took over the editing of about a third of the maps. At the same time the publication of the "Justus Perthes' Elementar Atlas" was being prepared, which he had designed and edited himself and most of the maps had been designed and drawn by himself. The atlas appeared in five editions between 1882 and 1884. Compared to the primary school atlases from other publishers, those from Perthes were larger in size, with larger scales and a simplified representation of the terrain. In addition, each atlas was accompanied by a home map on a scale of 1: 500,000. In 1887 sixty home maps appeared in the "Atlas zur Heimatkunde des Deutschen Reiches".

The completely revised 21st edition of the “Justus Perthes Pocket Atlas” appeared in 1885 with 24 scaled-down maps from the “Stieler's Hand Atlas”, a bestseller, which had been published in 20 editions since 1845: the German edition alone had 94 editions by 1962 Reached 2.5 million copies. It was a series of maps that remained largely unchanged in format, map content and design until the 94th edition in 1962.

Also in 1885 the first print of “Justus Perthes' Special Map of Africa”, designed by habenicht and edited together with Richard Lüddecke , appeared in 10 sheets, scale 1: 4,000,000, and two additional sheets. In 1886 the map was completed.

In 1888 the first edition of "Sydow-Wagner's Methodical School Atlas" was published. This was followed by the processing of the 16 maps of the “Sydow-habenicht Methodischer Wand-Atlas” under habenicht's direction and the publication in the years 1888–1896. Contemporaries praised this work, especially because of the suitability of the cards for large school rooms. At the World Geographic Congress in Bern in 1891, the institute issued twelve of these maps.

Have not mostly dealt with the processing of "Stieler's hand atlas" in the institution. He worked from the 4th edition in 1862 to the 9th edition in 1864.

In 1897, Hermann Haack began his cartographic training and career with Justus Perthes , whose first teacher was Lüddecke. After his death in the following year habenicht took over the function of teacher.

Hermann habenicht, Fluctuations in drift ice in the North Atlantic Ocean (1899)

Have-nothing interests were not only limited to cartography, he also dealt with other individual sciences of earth science . So he tried to summarize the state of knowledge in these areas and a cartographic representation. He became one of the outstanding personalities among the cartographers at Gothaer Anstalt, for whom he worked for 55 years.

Hermann habenicht died on March 30, 1917, just under a month after his 73rd birthday.

His grave is located in the main cemetery in Gotha .

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• Website of the city of Gotha
• Ernst Klett Publishing House

Individual evidence

1. ↑ z. B .: Drift ice weather theory , in: Mother Earth. Technology, travel and useful observation of nature in the home and family. First volume. W. Spemann, Berlin and Stuttgart 1899, pp. 4-7, 23-25; Fig.