Karl Ludwig Gronau

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Karl Ludwig Gronau (born June 7, 1742 in Berlin ; † December 8, 1826 there ), nicknamed Wetterpfarrer , was a German Protestant Reformed pastor and meteorologist . He is considered the founder of scientific weather observation in Berlin.

Life

Gronau came from a family of teachers who lived in the Bergisches Land in the 17th century , and was the son of the preacher Johann Hermann Gronau (1708–1769), since 1750 preacher at the Evangelical Reformed Parish Church in Berlin , and Luise von Bergen (?? -1746), sister of the anatomist Karl August von Bergen .

Like his father, Gronau was the first preacher at the Parochialkirche in Berlin from 1796 to 1821. He was also an enthusiastic scientist, was particularly interested in entomology and had been working in weather research since he was 14 years old (1756). He attended the Joachimsthal Gymnasium from 1756 and studied theology at the University of Frankfurt (Oder) from 1760 . Then he was court master of the later secret war council Ludwig Clamor de la Chevallerie Freiherr von La Motte in Berlin for six years .

In 1769 the housefathers of the Berlin Parochial Congregation elected him after his father's death as his successor, initially as their third preacher, in 1776 he was already the second preacher. One year later, on April 8, 1777, he married Johanne Hermann , the widow of his predecessor Scharden, who was already the mother of five children. He himself had only one son from his marriage, who became a preacher in Köpenick .

In 1796 Gronau was finally first preacher. On the occasion of his 50th anniversary in office, the Prussian King awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle, 3rd class, in 1820 , and the University of Berlin awarded him an honorary doctorate in theology.

From 1756 to November 30, 1826, i.e. for 70 years until his death, Gronau carried out regular weather observations with thermometers and barometers from 1774 and recorded them. He thus played a major role in the creation of the almost continuous 300-year Berlin temperature series. He also observed the winter temperature swing between Greenland and northern Europe with reference to Germany. From the information on sea ​​ice , which was of great interest for whaling and seal hunting at that time , Gronau described the connections between the extraordinary winters in Greenland and Germany for the period 1709–1800 based on its own comparisons in 1811.

He was a member of the "Society of Friends of Natural Science in Berlin", of which he became a full member in 1782. The Society later chose him to be their librarian. In his private life, too, he built up a sizable library, primarily of scientific works.

Gronau's great-grandson was the Prussian general of the artillery and in 1913 Hans von Gronau , raised to the Prussian nobility , his son the ocean aviator Wolfgang von Gronau .

Orders and decorations

Fonts

  • Attempt to make some observations about the weather in the Mark Brandenburg, especially in the area around Berlin . In: Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung , Volume 3 (No. 261), Verlag Lange, Berlin + Stralsund 1794
  • About the stones that fell from the sky . Publisher Dieterici u. Mittler, 1808

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Schlaak: 300 years of weather research in Berlin. Your story in personality images . In: 100 Years of the German Meteorological Society in Berlin 1884-1984 , Berlin undated
  2. ↑ Jürg Luterbacher, Heinz Wanner, Stefan Brönnimann: Historical development of NAO research ( PDF  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.giub.unibe.ch  

literature

  • Friedrich August Schmidt, Bernhardt Friedrich Voigt: New Nekrolog der Deutschen… , Page 1063, Verlag BF Voigt, 1828, ( digitized version )
  • Negotiations of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin , page XIII, Verlag Reimer, 1819 ( digitized version )
  • Georg Christoph Hamberger, Johann Georg Meusel: The learned Teutschland or lexicon of the now living German writers , Volume 2 (D – G), Page 672, Meyersche Buchhandlung, Lemgo 1796 ( digitized version )
  • Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Areligen Häuser , part B 1933, page 202 (with stem series), Verlag Justus Perthes, Gotha 1933
  • Karl Christian Bruhns:  Gronau, Karl Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 717.
  • Karl Keil:  Gronau, Karl Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 126 ( digitized version ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gronau, Karl Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German preacher and meteorologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 8, 1826
Place of death Berlin