Otto Bashin

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Adolf Karl Otto Baschin (born April 7, 1865 in Berlin , † September 4, 1933 in Berlin) was a German geographer and meteorologist .

Life

Otto Baschin, son of the Berlin businessman Karl Baschin and his wife Minna, née Steidel, attended the Sophien-Realgymnasium in Berlin. He then learned the profession of pharmacist , but had to give it up after sixteen months for health reasons. After a six-month recovery stay in Saxon Switzerland , he first studied physics and chemistry from 1885 , later meteorology and geography at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . He was a student of Ferdinand von Richthofen and Wilhelm von Bezold . He was particularly interested in exploring the Arctic. At his own expense he accompanied Erich von Drygalski in 1891 on his preparatory trip for the Greenland expedition of the Society for Geography in Berlin that took place in 1892/1893 . He made meteorological observations. In the winter of 1891/1892 he undertook an expedition with Martin Brendel to Bossekop on the Altafjord ( Norway ) to carry out magnetic measurements and auroreal observations. Here at the 70th parallel they took the first known photographs of the northern lights on February 1st, 1892.

From 1892 to 1899 Bashin worked at the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute in Berlin. He dealt with problems of air electricity in the free atmosphere . To this end, he participated in the Berlin scientific aviation carried out by the German Association for the Promotion of Airship Travel in Berlin . He took part in five scientific free balloon trips. He also dealt with the seasonal air exchange between the hemispheres .

In preparation for his polar expedition with the hydrogen balloon, Salomon August Andrée also sought advice from Otto Baschin, who was the only German balloonist who had undertaken polar journeys. Bashin became an enthusiastic proponent of the project and offered Andrée to participate. However, this did not take foreigners into account, as it was supposed to be a purely Swedish expedition.

From 1891 to 1912, Bashin was editor of the Bibliotheca Geographica , a complete collection of all publications in the field of general and physical geography. In recognition of this work, the Geography Society awarded him the Carl-Ritter-Medal in silver in 1913 . From 1900 he was also a curator at the Berlin Geographic Institute and finally a professor. In 1917 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

Baschin's wife Käthe, b. Zimmermann, was an assistant at the Geography Institute at the University of Berlin.

Works (selection)

as author:

  • The importance of scientific balloon flights for geographic research and the Andréesche polar project . Paetel, Berlin 1896
  • The first Northern Lights photographs, taken in Bossekop (Lapland) . In: Meteorological Journal . Volume 17, 1900, p. 278
  • The waves of the sea . Mittler, Berlin 1907
  • The distribution of air pressure over the oceans . Mittler, Berlin 1907
  • Belgium. Country, people, economic life . Mittler, Berlin 1915
  • The German geophysical observatory in Spitzbergen . In: Natural Sciences . Volume 8, 1920, pp. 301-304
  • The Arctic voyage of the airship "Graf Zeppelin" . In: Natural Sciences . Volume 20, 1932, pp. 6-13
  • Roald Amundsen . Coleman, Lübeck 1933

as editor:

  • Bibliotheca geographica . Annual bibliography of geographical literature published by the Society for Geography in Berlin, Volume 1–19, Berlin 1891–1912

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Asgeir Brekke, Truls Lynne Hansen: Nordlicht , series of publications of the Alta Museum No. 4, Alta 1997, ISBN 978-82-7784-017-8 , p. 29.
  2. ↑ Otto Bashin: Why I did not take part in Andrée's North Pole flight . In: The week . Volume 37, September 13, 1930, pp. 1103 f.
  3. ^ Negotiations of the company . In: Journal of the Society for Geography in Berlin . 1913, p. 407-416 ( online ).

Web links

Wikisource: Otto Baschin  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Bashin, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baschin, Adolf Karl Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geographer and meteorologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 4, 1933
Place of death Berlin