Leo Wenzel Pollak

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Leo Wenzel Pollak (born September 23, 1888 in Prague , Austria-Hungary , † November 24, 1964 in Dublin ) was a geophysicist, meteorologist and pioneer in data processing.

His parents were the writer or editor Simon Pollak and Dorothea, geb. Luck. In 1890 his father had received patent no. 55433 for a telephone conversation counter.

From 1906 to 1910 he studied physics and geophysics at the German University in Prague with Rudolf Spitaler (1859-1946) and received his doctorate with the thesis The duration and intensity of sunshine on the Douneuberge near Mileschau .

He became a private lecturer at the Geophysical Institute of the German University in Prague. From April 1911 Albert Einstein was a professor here for a year. When Pollak sent a circular in August 1911 to look for astronomers who had observed the light deflection effect predicted by Einstein in the gravitational field, Erwin Freundlich accepted the challenge.

His wife Johanna, b. Dittrich worked as a high school professor. Victor Conrad complained that he had lost his self-calculated tables while on the run in 1919.

In 1922 he completed his habilitation and in 1927 he became an associate professor. In February 1929 he became, as Spitaler's successor, full professor and director of the Geophysical Institute in Prague and also director of the Meteorological Observatory on Donnersberg , 20 miles south of Teplitz-Schönau .

In 1939 he emigrated to Ireland , where he worked for the Irish State Meteorologic Service . From 1947 to 1963 he taught as a professor at the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies .

He showed that punch card machines can perform scientific calculations.

Fonts

  • Tools for finding hidden periodicities and for harmonic analysis in general. In: Annals of Hydrography and Maritime Meteorology. 53, 1925, pp. 209-222
  • Calculation tables for harmonic analysis ; Leipzig
  • Calculating with and without a machine. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde. 47, 1927, pp. 340-357
  • For the harmonic analysis of empirical functions defined by a large number of given ordinates. In: Annals of Hydrography and Maritime Meteorology. 54, 1926, pp. 311-315, 344-349, 378-384
  • Handweiser for Harmonic Analysis Cechoslovak Statist. State Office, Prague 1928. (Prague Geophysical Studies)
  • The periods and the periodogram of the international geomagnetic character numbers. In: Cechoslovak Statistics. 64, 1930. (Prague Geophysical Studies III)
  • Use of statistical machines in climatology. In: Meteorological Journal. 44, No. 8, 1927, pp. 296-300
  • About the use of the punch card method in climatology. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde. 47, No. 11, 1927, pp. 528-532
  • Characteristics of air pressure frequency curves and generalized isobars in Europe Prague: State Statistical Office, 1927
  • Use of the punch card method in stellar statistics. In: Astronomical News. 233, No. 5,574, 1928 pp. 91-94
  • The periodogram of the international geomagnetic character numbers. In: Journal of Geophysics. 4, 1928, pp. 289-304
  • Advances in the application of the punch card method to geophysical problems. In: Journal of Geophysics. 5, 1929, pp. 33-36
  • New applications of the punch card method in geophysics. with F. Kaiser, in: Hollerith-Nachrichten. No. 44, 1934, pp. 574-584
  • About the numerical method of J. Fuhrich for the determination of periodicities, their testing and application to the pole movement. In: Statisticky Obzor, Prague. 16, No. 1-3, 1935
  • The periodogram of the polar motion. In: Gerland's contributions to geophysics. Pp. 108-194
  • About the use of the sound film for harmonic analysis. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde. 59, 1939, pp. 208-210
  • On Cycles of Pressure, Especially in the Neighborhood of Symmetry Points. In: Quarterly J. Royal Meteorological Soc. 66, 1940, p. 460
  • Further Remarks on Early Uses of Punched Cards in Meteorology and Climatology. In: Bull. Amer. Meteorological Soc. 27, No. 5, 1946, pp. 195-199
  • Conversion of Hollerith Punched Card Machines for Use of Unpunched Cards. In: Archives for Meteorology, Geophysics and Bioclimatology. B2, 1950/1951, pp. 462-467
  • Statistics of the scorch marks of the sunshine autograph . In: Meteorological Journal. 1913
  • About Lamont's correction. In: Annals of Hydrography and Maritime Meteorology. 51, pp. 234-239, 1923
  • Leo Wenzel Pollak: The rationalization and mechanization of the administration and settlement of geophysical figures. The punch card process . In: Natural Sciences . tape 18 , no. 16 , 1930, p. 343-349 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01501108 .

literature

  • Friedrich W. Kistermann: Leo Wenzel Pollak (1888–1964): Czechoslovakian Pioneer in Scientific Data Processing. In: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 21, No. 4, 1999, pp. 62-68.
  • Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933–1945 . Volume 2.2. Munich: Saur, 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 916

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Meteorological overview . tape 18-19 . Springer, 1965, p. 124 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Rudolf Vierhaus: German biographical encyclopedia: (DBE) . Walter de Gruyter, 2007, ISBN 978-3-598-25038-5 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041855/http://www.dreyblatt.de/whoswho/BioFileP.HTML
  4. ↑ http://www.deutsches-telefon-museum.eu/Gespraechszaehler/Pollak-Titel.htm
  5. ↑ Rudolf Spitaler. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950. ( online , PDF file, accessed July 7, 2010).
  6. ^ Albert Einstein, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science: Albert Einstein:. One hundred authors for Einstein . Wiley-VCH, 2005, ISBN 3-527-40579-8 , pp. 188 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
personal data
SURNAME Pollak, Leo Wenzel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Geophysicist, meteorologist and data processing pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1964
Place of death Dublin