Richard Assmann (meteorologist)
Richard Adolph Assmann , also Richard Assmann (born April 13, 1845 in Magdeburg , † May 28, 1918 in Gießen ) was a German meteorologist . He developed the Aßmann aspiration psychrometer named after him . He worked for a popularization of meteorology and is considered a co-founder of aerology .
Life
Aßmann, the son of a leather manufacturer, graduated from the Magdeburg High School and studied medicine from 1865, first at the Royal University of Breslau , and from 1866 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . During his studies in 1865 he became a member of the Arminia Breslau fraternity . In 1868 he received his doctorate and worked as a general practitioner in Freienwalde (Oder) from 1870 to 1879 . Here he set up a private meteorological observatory. In 1879 he went back to his native Magdeburg as a general practitioner.
On October 29, 1880, he founded the Meteorological Institute of the Magdeburgische Zeitung together with the newspaper publisher Alexander Faber (1844–1908) and took over its management. On December 12, 1880 , the first newspaper weather map of Germany was published in the Magdeburgische Zeitung. Assmann founded the Association for Agricultural Meteorology in 1881, the Monthly Journal for Practical Meteorology in 1882 and the popular scientific monthly Das Wetter in 1884 , which he published until his death. In 1885, Assmann completed his second degree at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Halle with a doctorate . In 1886 he became senior scientific officer at the Royal Meteorological Institute Berlin-Grünau . As a member of the Berlin Association for the Promotion of Aviation , he initiated and organized its scientific aviation to explore the atmosphere by means of manned free balloon ascents from 1888 to 1899 . During the first ascent of the Humboldt balloon on March 1, 1893, Kaiser Wilhelm II himself was present. He had personally provided 50,000 marks for the construction and operation of the balloon from his very highest disposition fund. However, the journey ended with Assmann breaking his right leg on landing. In 1888 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy . In the 1880s and 1890s he ultimately campaigned successfully for the establishment of the Brocken weather station .
From 1887 to 1892, together with Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld, he developed the Aßmann aspiration psychrometer named after him for measuring temperature and humidity while excluding radiation, the technical implementation and manufacture of which took place in Rudolf Fuess' workshop . At the same time as Léon-Philippe Teisserenc de Bort , he discovered the constant temperature above 11,000 m and thus the stratosphere . In 1900 the Aeronautical Observatory Reinickendorf was founded on his initiative .
In 1903 he was awarded the Buys Ballot Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences together with Arthur Berson .
On October 16, 1905, the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory in Lindenberg ( Brandenburg ) was opened as the successor to the observatory in Reinickendorf on Aßmann's initiative in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II . Assmann was director of the observatory from 1905 to 1914. Since October 16, 2005 - the 100th anniversary of its founding - the observatory has had the addition "Richard-Assmann-Observatory".
As a secret government councilor , he left office in 1914. Until his death he taught as an honorary professor at the University of Giessen .
Assmann's grave is unknown. His urn was kept in the Lindenberg Aerological Observatory for many years, but is now considered lost. It is believed that she was buried on the premises of the observatory.
Honors
His hometown Magdeburg named the Aßmannstraße , in which the Magdeburg weather station is located, after him. There is also the Richard Assmann Observatory in Tauche .
Works (selection)
- Richard Assmann: The thunderstorms in Central Germany. According to the observations of the Association for Agricultural Meteorology , Diss. Halle 1885
- Richard Aßmann, Arthur Berson (ed.): Scientific aviation , Vieweg, Braunschweig 1899 (vol. 1), 1900 (vol. 2, 3)
- Richard Aßmann: About the existence of a warmer air flow at a height of 10 to 15 km . In: Meeting reports of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin (meeting of the physical-mathematical class on May 1, 1902) 24, 1902, pp. 495–504
literature
- Rudolf Geiger : Assmann, Richard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 420 ( digitized version ).
- Hans Steinhagen : The weather man. Life and work of Richard Aßmann , Findling, Neuenhagen 2005, ISBN 3-933603-33-1 .
- Martin Wiehle : Magdeburg personalities. Published by the Magistrate of the City of Magdeburg, Department of Culture. imPuls Verlag, Magdeburg 1993, ISBN 3-910146-06-6 .
- Guido Heinrich: Assmann, Adolph Richard. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Richard Assmann in the catalog of the German National Library
- Richard Assmann (meteorologist) in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon
References and comments
- ↑ Steinhagen: Der Wettermann , p. 39 ff.
- ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 7.
- ↑ R. Assmann: The working methods of the aerological observatories . In: Bröckelmann (ed.), Wir Luftschiffer , Ullstein, Berlin and Vienna 1909, p. 66.
- ↑ Steinhagen: Der Wettermann , p. 362 ff.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Assmann, Richard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Assmann, Richard Adolph (full name); Assmann, Richard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German meteorologist, developer of the aspiration psychrometer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 13, 1845 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magdeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 28, 1918 |
| Place of death | to water |