Richard Weyl (geologist)

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Hellmut Theodor Richard Weyl (born August 10, 1912 in Kiel , † December 15, 1988 in Heidelberg ) was a German geologist.

education

Richard Weyl was a son of the lawyer of the same name and his wife and teacher Bertha Wagner (born December 20, 1877 in Berlin; † October 29, 1955 in Uetersen). He had the brother Johannes Weyl and two sisters. His parents were considered culturally and socially open. Weyl attended the Kiel School of Academics and passed the Abitur examination in 1931. From a young age he was particularly interested in natural history and geography. He dealt with it far beyond the school material and designed his leisure activities accordingly.

Although the career prospects were not good, Weyl studied geology and palaeontology at the University of Innsbruck from the summer semester of 1931. The winter semester 1931/32 and the period from the winter semester 1932/33 to the summer semester 1934 he learned at the University of Kiel. He spent the summer semester of 1932 in Freiburg. For his doctorate, he moved to Heidelberg University in the winter semester of 1934/35.

Weyl was given leave of absence in the summer semester of 1935. He went to the Navy voluntarily and thus did his military service. He himself said that he did this voluntarily in order not to have to join the student SA. In the following years he had to repeatedly suspend his scientific training. Instead, he had to take part in military exercises and special training.

During his studies, Weyl increasingly preferred to deal with mountains and processes of mountain weather, both for scientific and personal preference. In his dissertation in February 1936 with Julius Wilser at the University of Heidelberg, he described the “stratigraphy and tectonics of the basement boundary between Kinzig and Elz in the Central Black Forest”.

Working as a geographer

After completing his dissertation, Weyl worked as a research assistant at Heidelberg University for a year. He then accepted Adolf Meyer-Abich's offer to work for a year at the German-Dominican Tropical Research Institute in Santo Domingo . From March 1938 to February 1939 he worked here as a geologist and visiting researcher. The stay had a significant impact on his further career.

Weyl initially took on the central investigations in the Dominican Republic. This gave rise to the text “Construction and history of the Cordillera Central of Santo Domingo (West India)”. He did his habilitation in the summer semester 1940 at the University of Kiel. After the war he explored all of Central America and the Caribbean. He undertook 21 research trips that lasted longer than 54 months. Weyl dealt with general questions of geological history, later several special topics, including geotectonics, volcanism, glaciation, coastal geology, raw materials and mining. His work brought him recognition and reputation in international specialist circles.

During the Second World War , Weyl had to interrupt his work. In August 1939 he was called up for military service. At first he commanded an anti-aircraft battery and then served as the chief of a company in his training department on the Baltic coast. At the end of the war he was able to flee from Rügen to Schleswig-Holstein by ship . He met his wife and the two small children who had been evacuated shortly before in the summer of 1945 in Uetersen .

In 1946 Weyl got a position as a lecturer at the Geological Institute of Kiel University. In September 1947 he was appointed adjunct professor of geology. In 1949 his family moved to Kiel. In the early 1950s, Weyl resumed his research activities in Central America. In 1956 he accepted a professorship at the University of Giessen. Two years later he took over the re-established geological chair and worked here until his retirement in 1977. In Giessen he deepened Central America as the focus of his scientific activities.

Weyl was considered a creative scientist and respected university professor. He was able to inspire his audience, including students from other, mostly geographic, faculties. He also gave lectures to numerous listeners, which he made more popular and broader in content. He saw Alexander von Humboldt as his great role model . Like him, Weyl endeavored to present the results of scientific research in a broader regional and local context. He also tried to show connections with other disciplines.

Scientific achievements

During his time in Giessen, Weyl focused on Central America. This enabled him to show in detail that the Cordillera de Talamanca were glaciated during the Ice Age. This represented a pioneering scientific achievement. In order to promote the exchange of scientists, he created the Latin America Colloquium in Gießen in 1967 . This developed into a permanent institution.

In Germany, however, Weyl did less research. Sediment petrographic analyzes are worth mentioning. He also designed a geological guide through Gießen and Mittelhessen, which he published himself. Furthermore, Weyl dealt with the history of geology, Leonardo da Vinci's geological worldview and the interrelationships between man and nature.

Merits for the University of Giessen

In 1957 and 1963 Weyl turned down calls from the universities in Kiel and Erlangen. Instead, he used this to secure extensive financial and personnel capacities for the institute in Giessen. Thus, he had an important part in the development and expansion of the Geological Institute, to which he felt increasingly connected. Weyl saw it as a matter of course to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis and in the self-administration of the university. For several years he took over the management of the International Office. 1961/62 he acted as dean of the old natural science faculty. He later worked in the same position in the newly established "Geosciences and Geography" department.

Together with other professors from Giessen, Weyl founded the "Instituto Colombo Aleman" and developed it further. The facility in Santa Marta was a base for numerous scientists and geographers and supported the international transfer of knowledge. The institute existed from 1986 to 1978.

In 1967/86 Weyl was elected rector of the university. This represented a high point in his academic career. Due to the student revolt, however, there were numerous conflicts that caused Weyl great physical and psychological problems.

Honor

Due to his scientific achievements, the German Research Foundation invited Weyl to a lecture and research trip in 1969. The occasion was the 200th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt, whose traces the route followed. Weyl visited numerous countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Els Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

Works

Weyl published extremely extensively. He wrote a total of 185 articles and books, co-authored 20 titles and edited works. His contributions have appeared in geographic, soil and natural science journals. Around two thirds of the publications deal with Central America and the Caribbean.

Weyl created two standard geological works that are part of the series of publications "Contributions to the Regional Geology of the Earth": "The Geology of Central America" ​​from 1961 was revised in 1980 and translated into English. Here the book is entitled "Geology of Central America". In 1966 the "Geology of the Antilles" appeared. With “Geological Forays through the West Indies and Central America” from 1966 and “Geological History and Landscape in Central America” (1965) he also wrote for a wider target audience.

family

Richard Weyl married Herta Ida Marie Theile on September 17, 1940 in Heidelberg (born August 20, 1912 in Konstanz ; † May 31, 1982 in Gießen ). Her father Julius Theile (born September 6, 1889 in Grüne ; † January 6, 1959 in Heidelberg) was a manufacturer and married to Friederike, née Grass (born October 16, 1890 in Augsburg ; † December 2, 1964 in Gießen).

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 487-490.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 487-488.
  2. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
  3. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
  4. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
  5. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
  6. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
  7. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 488–489.
  8. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 489.
  9. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 489.
  10. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 489.
  11. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 489-490.
  12. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 490.
  13. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 490.
  14. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 490.
  15. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 490.
  16. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 489.
  17. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 489.
  18. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenzel: Weyl, Richard . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 488.
personal data
SURNAME Weyl, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weyl, Hellmut Theodor Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1988
Place of death Heidelberg