Karl Gruber (zoologist)

Karl Gruber (born October 30, 1881 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † June 18, 1927 in Munich ) was a German physician, biologist, parapsychologist, ski pioneer and mountaineer.

Live and act

science

Gruber received his doctorate in medicine in 1905 and turned to zoology from 1908. As a zoologist, he carried out experimental work at Richard von Hertwig's institute . In 1912 he completed his habilitation as a lecturer in zoology at the Munich Polytechnic. During the First World War he was called to the front as a troop doctor and was taken prisoner by the French in Saloniki, from which he did not return until 1919. He continued to give lectures and also worked at Reinhard Demoll's institute . In 1921 he was appointed associate professor. In addition to his scientific field of activity, Gruber was very interested in occultism , spiritualism , parapsychology and astrology . As an employee of Albert von Schrenck-Notzing , he was involved in his experiments with spiritualistic media (e.g. Willi Schneider ), gave lectures and wrote corresponding papers.

Karl Gruber was very interested in building bridges between academic science and parapsychology . As a student and employee of Schrenck-Notzing, who is considered to be the pioneer of German parapsychology, he attached great importance to a scientific methodology and precise documentation of experiments with media . His special field of investigation were telekinesis and materialization phenomena. From a few hints in his treatises it can be seen, however, that as a biologist he was not averse to the race theories, which were very popular at the time.

Sports

In 1901 Gruber was one of the founders of the Munich Ski Club. After having been active as a mountain hiker and mountaineer in his spare time, he turned more and more to skiing around the turn of the century and was one of the most famous skiers in the Black Forest. In 1902 he gave the first mountain guide ski courses at the Arlberg Ski Club . He celebrated his sporting highlights in ski jumping . So he was the first German who managed to defeat the previously dominant Norwegians. In addition, at 31.5 meters, he reached the longest jump ever made by a non-Norwegian. In 1904 Gruber am Feldberg in the Black Forest was the first German to win the German championship in ski jumping . In the same year he secured first prize for the most beautiful jump in Adelboden . But Gruber was also successful in the alpine disciplines. In 1906 he became the Salzburg champion in the descent from the Schmittenhöhe . At the Munich ski races in 1911, he won the figure skating as well as in the downhill and was thus awarded the Golden Munich Medal for the best overall performance. At the age of 43, Gruber won the races of the Gaues Oberland in Tegernsee in cross-country skiing , ski jumping and the overall combination in age group II. He also came second in the obstacle course and thus won the honorary award of this event.

Due to his success, Gruber was appointed to the skiing team of the filmmaker Arnold Fanck in the winter of 1921/22 for the ski film Fuchsjagd im Engadin - Wonder of the Snowshoe Part 2 . The experiences surrounding the filming were recorded in a colored narrative under the title With the BSF (Berg- und Skisport Film GmbH Freiburg) through the Engadin . Gruber also published as the main author the first ski guide for what is also known as the Bavarian highlands and adjacent areas , which was published by the Munich Academic Ski Club.

family

Karl Gruber was the oldest of eight children of the zoologist August Gruber . He attended the Grand Ducal Gymnasium in Freiburg from 1891 and passed his Abitur there in 1899. Even as a boy he was nicknamed Nutsch there . In September 1907 Gruber married his Inge Wuppermann, a wealthy factory owner's daughter from Düsseldorf .

Sickness and death

Gruber had to undergo a first operation for colon cancer as early as 1926. After initially feeling better, he had to undergo another operation in early 1927. Gruber did not survive and died at the age of 45. He was buried in the family grave of the Munich forest cemetery.

Fonts

• Parapsychological findings. Munich 1925.
• Occultism and biology. Collected essays from the estate. Munich 1929.

Web links

• Biography at the Bavarian Alpine Club

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The first skiers and the founding of the Arlberg Ski Club (PDF) Arlberg Ski Club. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
2. ↑ Gerd Falkner: 100 Years of the German Ski Association - Chronicle of German Skiing from the Beginnings to the Present . Volume 1, German Ski Association, Planegg 2005, ISBN 3-938963-01-8 , p. 16