Reinhard Süring

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Reinhard Süring

Reinhard Joachim Süring (born May 15, 1866 in Hamburg ; † December 29, 1950 in Potsdam ) was one of the most important German meteorologists in the first half of the 20th century.

Under his leadership, the meteorological observatory in Potsdam became a cloud research center with an international reputation. Süring belonged to numerous international commissions. His scientific achievements lie in the exploration of the high atmosphere as well as in cloud and radiation research. The Hann / Süring: Textbook of Meteorology was the standard work for generations of German-speaking meteorology students .

Life

Süring was the son of the secondary school teacher Wilhelm Süring. After graduating from secondary school in 1885, he studied mathematics and natural science in Göttingen , Marburg and Berlin .

From 1887, while still a student, he was an assistant at the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt . His interest was in the higher layers of the air.

In 1890 he received his doctorate with a thesis on the vertical decrease in temperature in mountain areas in its dependence on cloud cover .

In the same year he became an assistant at the Prussian Meteorological Institute in Berlin and with the establishment of the Meteorological-Magnetic Observatory in Potsdam in 1892 there too. The first official weather observation of the secular (from Latin saeculum = century) Potsdam observation series on New Year's Day of 1893 was carried out by him. A weather station was planned that would work over very long periods of time under the most unchanged measurement and boundary conditions (säkulum = century).

In 1899 he married Olga Elisabeth Wedekind. His three daughters were born in 1900, 1904 and 1911.

The Preussen balloon being filled with hydrogen on July 31, 1901

Between 1893 and 1921 he took part in numerous scientific balloon flights. His record free balloon flight on July 31, 1901, which he carried out with Arthur Berson for scientific purposes, attracted worldwide attention . The reason was Richard Assmann's observation with unmanned registration balloons that at an altitude of 10 to 13 km the decrease in air temperature with increasing altitude stops. The accuracy of these measurements was questioned, even by Assmann himself for a long time. Süring and Berson ascended in the Prussen balloon at Tempelhofer Feld and reached a height of 10,800 m in an open gondola. Even if they did not reach the isothermal layer, they were able to confirm the correctness of the measured values ​​of a recording balloon which rose simultaneously and rose to an altitude of 17,500 m. In doing so, they created the basis for the discovery of the stratosphere by Aßmann and Teisserenc de Bort in 1902.

From 1901 Süring headed the thunderstorm department of the Prussian Meteorological Institute.

Reinhard Süring - sculpture by W. Statt (Telegrafenberg Potsdam)

Since the late 1890s, Süring worked closely with the Viennese physiologist Hermann von Schrötter , a pioneer in aeronautical medicine . In 1897, at Schrötter's request, experimental animals ( rabbits ) accompanied him on a balloon flight. Together with Berson, he made himself available to Schrötter as a test person in the pneumatic cabinet of the Jewish Hospital in Berlin, where Schrötter observed the physiological effects of the negative atmospheric pressure ( altitude sickness ). In 1901 and 1902 Süring and Schrötter undertook balloon trips together, in which Berson and the Berlin physiologist Nathan Zuntz were also involved. As early as 1901, Süring and Schrötter had estimated the height at which, due to the low air pressure, even breathing pure oxygen would no longer be sufficient to adequately supply the human body even when it was absolutely quiet. Your result was 12,500 meters.

From 1907 he published the Meteorologische Zeitschrift together with Julius von Hann , which he continued to run from 1946 under the title Zeitschrift für Meteorologie .

After Adolf Sprung's death , Süring became head of the meteorological department of the Meteorological-Magnetic Observatory in Potsdam in 1909. As the successor to Adolf Schmidt , who retired in 1928, he became director of this observatory, which he led to international renown until his own retirement in 1932. After he had rescued the secular observation series almost completely over the war events in Potsdam at the end of the war, in 1945 the Soviet occupying power again entrusted him with the management of the observatory, which had been designated as the central facility for the establishment of a uniform meteorological observation network in the Soviet occupation zone . He headed the observatory until March 31, 1950. Reinhard Süring died on December 29 of the same year, a few months before his 85th birthday in Potsdam.

Honors

In 1920 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

After Süring's record drive with Berson, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the Order of the Crown, IV class.

The German Meteorological Society (DMG) awards the Reinhard Süring plaque to personalities who have made outstanding scientific or organizational services to the goals of DMG.

Reinhard Süring Foundation

In 2005, the Reinhard Süring Foundation was established in Potsdam with the aim of keeping the secular station founded by Süring and the meteorological observatory on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam at their historical location indefinitely. After the decision of the German Meteorological Service not to give up the station after all, the foundation promotes science and research in the field of meteorology, in particular by supporting measures to collect, secure and process climatological data. A particular concern is the promotion of environmentally relevant further training for young scientists. Every three years, the Reinhard Süring Foundation's Climate Prize is awarded to an outstanding young scientist during the German Climate Conference.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member entry by Reinhard Süring at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 20, 2016.
  2. ↑ Homepage of the Reinhard Süring Foundation, accessed on May 10, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Süring, Reinhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Süring, Reinhard Joachim (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German meteorologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1950
Place of death Potsdam