Karl Knoch

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Karl Heinrich Knoch (born January 19, 1883 in Marburg , † January 8, 1972 in Offenbach am Main ) was a German climatologist who published numerous papers in the field of meteorology, especially climatology. He mainly dealt with the sub-areas of agricultural and bioclimatology as well as global climate science. Karl Knoch has been called the father of German climatology .

Life

Karl Knoch was born as the son of Heinrich Bernhard Knoch and Anna Katharina Knoch in Marburg, the oldest of five children. From 1901 to 1905 he studied natural sciences in his hometown and in Berlin . He took courses in geometry , physics , chemistry , geography , mathematics , geodesy , philosophy and logic . During his studies in 1901 he became a member of the Germania Marburg fraternity . In 1905 he accepted a position as a "scientific assistant" (today: assistant ) in Berlin, before he did his doctorate with Theobald Fischer in 1906 with a thesis on the precipitation conditions in the Atlas countries and one year later he joined the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute. Despite a secure job and a doctorate, he volunteered as a soldier in the First World War in 1914 . Until 1918 he fought in France , Italy and Russia, among others .

From 1919 he worked as an observer . During this time, under the influence of Gustav Hellmann, the direction of his later research was decided. The marriage to Margarete Reimer on October 8, 1920 followed in the German capital. After his habilitation in 1925, appointment as extraordinary professor at the University of Berlin in 1928 and taking on a teaching position at the Agricultural University of the same city, Knoch was appointed head of the climate department of the Prussian Meteorological Institute in 1929. In 1921 he published a climate atlas for Germany together with Hellmann, von Elsner and Henze. In 1927 he made a trip to South America to continue his climate research. He published the results of this trip in 1930 (Die Klimakunde von Süd America). In 1935, after founding the Reich Weather Service , of which he was appointed director , Knoch was able to profitably transfer climatological practice to agriculture and medicine. He promoted these areas until the end of his life. In 1940 he became an honorary professor.

At that time his paths also crossed with Hermann Flohn , who worked in his department and remembered Knoch as a “first-class meteorologist”.

Karl Knoch saved the archive and library of the Reich Weather Service through personal commitment in 1945/46 . After intermediate stops in Groß Leuthen (1943) and Thuringia, the documents fell into the hands of the American occupiers, for whom Knoch finally brought them to Wiesbaden by American trucks and railways after Thuringia was surrendered to Russia . After a short stay, they finally came to Bad Kissingen to the Central Office for the Weather Service in the US zone . Hermann Flohn later said that Knoch's commitment showed “real devotion to science”, for which the meteorologists owed him “immortal thanks”.

From 1949 the exhibition “ Climate and Man” , which Knoch had created, was opened. From that time until his death, he continued to be very productive. He wrote numerous papers, especially in the post-war period. In 1959 he moved from Bad Kissingen to Offenbach. He had retired on February 1, 1953, but he continued to work and, among other things, contributed to the World Disease Atlas, revised the climate atlases of the federal states, wrote the work Do we have effective legislation in the fight against air pollution? and was still working in the last few years on the extensive work Kurortprobleme , which could no longer be printed.

Knoch's grave, taken in 1972

In 1972 Knoch died in Offenbach am Main . With Margarete Reimer he left two sons. In an obituary, he was opened to everything new with the words “Karl Knoch combined the often vaunted exemplary qualities of the Prussian civil servant, the high intelligence and diligence of the purposeful, ingenious researcher and the straightforwardness of the outstanding organizer who spares no effort and obstacles and personally of the greatest modesty and needlessness. ” honored.

Significance for meteorology

On the basis of the work of Gustav Hellmann, Knoch re-created the field of climatology for the German weather service, pushed it forward and supported it with numerous researches.

He also lived a time of numerous upheavals and new beginnings, so that he experienced and shaped three organizations from the Prussian Royal Meteorological Institute to the Reich Weather Service and the German Weather Service. With the latter two in particular, he made a significant contribution to the organization and establishment of new areas and possible applications of meteorology.

Later he promoted health resort climate research enormously and helped to set up a uniform system for measuring the effectiveness of health resorts in certain physical and psychological states of the spa guests concerned. He was considered a pioneer in the collaboration between doctors and climatologists on the part of the latter and always emphasized the importance of this collaboration.

Awards and honorary memberships

Knoch was the recipient of the Great Federal Cross of Merit , which he received in 1953 on his 70th birthday, and was honored with the Zugspitze Medal on the same day. He was also given the rarely awarded weather service badge. After all, he was not only an honorary member of numerous meteorological societies, but also of the German Society for Balneology , Bioclimatology and Physical Therapy .

Knoch was a member of the German Alpine Club and the Rhön Club .

Works

Fonts

Knoch wrote 175 publications in his life. The most important are:

  • Results of high-altitude wind measurements in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea in April u. May 1927 . Friederichsen, de Gruyter & Co., Altona 1928.
  • With E. Blanck, K. Rehorst and others: The weathering theory and its climatological basis . Julius Springer, Berlin 1929.
  • Climate science of South America . Borntraeger brothers, Berlin 1930.
  • Climate and climatic fluctuations . Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1930.
  • Climate Atlas of Hessen . German Weather service in the US zone, Bad Kissingen 1950.
  • with Alfred Schulze: Methods of climate classification . Perthes, Gotha 1952.
  • Climate Atlas of Bavaria . German Weather Service, Bad Kissingen 1952.
  • The national climate recording, nature and methodology . German Weather Service, Bad Kissingen 1963.

Note: Many other important articles appeared in magazines, communications from the German Weather Service or in the "Treatises of the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute". These are not listed here.

Exhibition Climate and People

In 1949, 1950 and 1952 the exhibition “ Climate and People”, initiated by Knoch, opened its doors in Bad Kissingen, Karlsruhe and again in Bad Kissingen. It showed the connection between people, especially their well-being, and the climate. The exhibition could be booked as a success.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c In memoriam. Professor Dr. phil. Karl Knoch †. In: Journal for applied bath and climate medicine. 1972, pp. 313-316
  2. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. List of the members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934, p. 252.
  3. ↑ a b Interview With Professor H. Flohn ( Memento from December 13, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  4. ↑ Guide to the Climate and People exhibition . German weather service in the US zone, 1949.
personal data
SURNAME Knoch, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knoch, Karl Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German climatologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Marburg
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1972
Place of death Offenbach am Main