Robert Lauterbach

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Robert Lauterbach (born February 25, 1915 in Leipzig ; † August 19, 1995 there ) was a German geophysicist and university professor.

Life

Robert Lauterbach was the son of the music teacher and conductor Robert Lauterbach and his wife Mary, née Brauer, also a teacher. After graduating from the Nikolaischule school, he began studying geophysics, geology and mineralogy at the University of Leipzig in 1934 . This he completed in 1938 with the promotion of Dr. rer. nat. from. The topic of the doctoral thesis was "Geomagnetic Investigations in Northwest Saxony and Northeast Thuringia".

Lauterbach joined the NSDAP in 1937 . After working for a year as a scientific unskilled worker at the Oberbergamt in Freiberg , he got a job as a geophysicist and geologist at the Society for Practical Deposit Research (Prakla) Berlin in 1939 , which he held until 1945 with interruptions due to military service. After the Second World War , Lauterbach worked as a freelance advisory geologist and hydrologist for state governments and other agencies until he was employed as a senior assistant and lecturer at the Geological Institute of Leipzig University in 1951 with the aim of reviving geophysical teaching in Leipzig. After completing his habilitation in 1952, he was appointed professor with a full teaching assignment for applied geology and applied geophysics at the mathematics and natural sciences faculty of the University of Leipzig in 1953.

In this function and later as dean of the mathematics and natural sciences faculty at the University of Leipzig (1965–1969), he earned services in promoting the subjects of geophysics, geology, paleontology, meteorology, mineralogy, petrography and geography, in maintaining the Geophysical Observatory Collm and the rescue of the geological-paleontological and mineralogical-petrographic collections as well as the libraries belonging to the institutes.

Outside the university he was involved in the development of the Geophysical Service of the GDR (from 1953 VEB Geophysik) and its settlement in Leipzig, to which he also held a leading position. In 1958, despite a ban by the Berlin Ministry, he managed to organize the 22nd annual meeting of the German Geological Society at its founding site in Leipzig, the only such meeting in East German territory during the GDR era. On it he was elected deputy chairman of the society.

Lauterbach's university research aimed at the application of geophysical methods and their interpretation for geological exploration, with magnetometric, microgravimetric and radiometric methods being developed and used. He was the editor of the "Geophysical Map of the GDR".

Robert Lauterbach's tomb in the south cemetery in Leipzig

A setback in his efforts brought the GDR's Third University Reform in 1968 . The successfully practiced geophysics course was not allowed to continue, and the Institute for Geophysical Exploration and Geology he founded at the end of the 1950s was closed. As a result, he lost the associated chair in geophysics. The rest of geophysics was transferred to the newly created physics section of the university as the geophysics department. Lauterbach became department head and full professor for applied geophysics.

During his entire professional activity and also after his retirement in 1980, he tried to make his subject accessible to broad circles through popular science books and lectures. After 1990 it became effective again in terms of scientific organization. He was the only geoscientist in the extraordinary appointment committee for mathematics and natural sciences at the University of Leipzig and played a decisive role in the founding of today's institutes of the Faculty of Physics and Geosciences in 1993.

Lauterbach had lived in the Marienbrunn district of Leipzig since 1950 , where he was Honorary Chairman of the Association of Friends of Marienbrunn e. V. was.

Awards

Fonts (selection)

  • How old is the earth Geophysical earth time measurement. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Wissen, 1948
  • Sunspots: their nature and their effect. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Wissen, 1949
  • Is a new ice age coming? : the causes of major icing. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Wissen, 1949
  • Geology and geophysics . Leipzig: Academic Publishing Company Geest & Portig, 1957
  • On the biostratigraphic subdivision of the Rotliegend. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1975
  • 100 years of glacial theory in the area of ​​Scandinavian glaciations. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1978.
  • Contributions to paleontology. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1978
  • Geology experience: the earth then and now . Leipzig: Edition Leipzig, 1981, Gütersloh: Prisma-Verlag, 1982
  • Man and the planets . Urania-Verlag 1987, ISBN 978-3332001044
  • as well as numerous articles in scientific journals

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Lauterbach (1915-1995). Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ 100th birthday of Robert Lauterbach. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Prof. Dr. Robert Lauterbach. In: Website of the Association of Friends of Marienbrunn e. V. Accessed January 18, 2018 .
  4. ^ Honorary membership of the Society for Geosciences (GGW) (1955–2005). In: DGGV website. Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Lauterbach, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 1995
Place of death Leipzig