Wilhelm Lauer

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Wilhelm Lauer

Wilhelm Lauer (born February 1, 1923 in Oberwesel ; † July 24, 2007 in Wuppertal ) was a German geographer and climatologist and one of the pioneers of ecophysiological climate classification and geoecology. The Wilhelm Lauer Foundation, located at the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz , supports young professionals in this research area.

Scientific career

Wilhelm Lauer began studying geography, meteorology , botany, geology, history, ethnology and Latin at the University of Bonn in 1945 . He received his doctorate in 1950 from Carl Troll in Bonn on the ecological topic “Humid and arid seasons in Africa and South America and their relationship to the vegetation belt” and in 1955 received his habilitation from Oskar Schmieder at Kiel University . From 1956 to 1958 he taught as a full professor at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia , built up and headed the Geography Institute there. Because of his ties to this country, he established an interdisciplinary project during his time in Bonn: “Development problems in extra-tropical South America from a historical, geographical and regional political perspective - model study Chile” (from 1971, funded by the Volkswagenwerk Foundation). In 1958 Lauer became a full professor of geography at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . In 1961 he moved to the University of Marburg and in 1966 until his retirement in 1988 as the successor to Carl Troll in Bonn to the chair of physical geography. Lauer had a large number of students, several of whom held chairs at German universities.

Research areas and research trips

Wilhelm Lauer mainly dealt with the climatic and vegetation geography of the tropics. The aim was to compare the climatic boundary conditions of the vegetation belts in Africa and South America and to define plausible criteria for the relationships between climate and plant formations. This problem - in the tradition of Alexander von Humboldt - should point the way for his further research and teaching activities and has kept him busy until the end.

He carried out research trips early after the end of the war: After 1951 he spent research purposes in Spain and Spanish Morocco, where he investigated forms of agriculture in semi-arid areas. As a visiting researcher at the Instituto Tropical de Investigaciones Científicas, he embarked on a one-year research trip to El Salvador in 1953 , where he researched the effects of anthropogenic influences on the natural landscape. During his visiting professorship in Valdivia, he studied the glacial treasure trove of the southern Chilean lake area and initiated student work on the settlement and economic development of the area since the 18th century and on migration problems in the greater north of Chile.

In Bonn he concentrated on research in countries in Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East, where he researched the altitude levels of the climate and the vegetation of the tropical and subtropical high mountains.

With the idea of ​​“comparative high mountain research”, he followed the scientific tracks of Trolls and Humboldt both thematically and spatially in the South American Andes. It was mostly about the analysis of the connections between the physical and biotic environment , about the actions of humans in the climatic-ecological structure. Lauer methodically followed the 'classic' expedition concept with detailed terrain surveys and documentation in cartographic representations. Through this work he has become one of the best experts on the climatology and plant ecology of the tropics with all their complex gradations and distribution patterns and has found great international recognition. In 1988, together with Peter Frankenberg and Daud Rafiqpoor, he developed an ecophysiological climate classification .

Lauer was one of the initiators and longstanding head of the German Research Foundation's Mexico project (1964–1979), which became a major multidisciplinary project of the DFG as a priority program, comparable to today's DFG Collaborative Research Center. Numerous student theses (dissertations and habilitations) were created in the context of this project.

Wilhelm Lauer and his students (Peter Frankenberg and M. Daud Rafiqpoor) pursued the idea of ​​an ecologically-oriented climate classification to develop new approaches for calculating potential landscape evaporation. He completed this project in 2002 with the publication of a modern "Classification of the Earth's Climates on the Basis of the Ecophysiological Characteristics of Real Vegetation".

Wilhelm Lauer Foundation and the Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz

His high reputation in the scientific community is also reflected in his appointment to many scientific associations. He was a member of the German National Academy Leopoldina, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and was involved in various ways in the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz (Vice President 1985–1995), Chairman of the 'Subcommission on Tropical High Mountains' (1980–1984) of the IGU- Commission on 'High Mountain Ecology', of which he was a member from 1968 for many years and a founding member of the Working Group on German Latin American Studies, to name just a few of the large number of his memberships. From the interacademic exchange between the Commission for Earth Science Research (Wilhelm Lauer) and the Commission for Biology ( Wilhelm Barthlott ) of the Academy in Mainz, the map of the global diversity of higher plants emerged, to which he contributed the climatological part. Like much of his research, it is precisely these comprehensive approaches that are very topical in connection with questions of global changes in climate and the environment.

The Mainz Academy was his second “academic home” right up to the end. Here he initiated the long-term project "Three-dimensional landscape structure of the tropical high mountains" within the framework of the Commission for Earth Science Research (Geoecology Department at the Geographical Institute of the University of Bonn). From 1979 to 1985 he established an interdisciplinary long-term project “Kallawaya Mountain Population and Ecosystems in Bolivia” and studied the interaction between humans and the environment in a high mountain valley with students and colleagues. The work is documented by numerous publications in the treatises of the Mainz Academy. As a result, one of Wilhelm Lauer's concerns became particularly clear: promoting young talented scientists. The Wilhelm Lauer Foundation at the Mainz Academy was established through his legacy from his private funds. The foundation should make it possible to support projects, especially young scientists. The foundation has set up a lecture series Lauer-Lecture , in the context of which modern aspects of research from the work areas of the founder are discussed once a year in a renowned lecture. The Wilhelm Lauer Prize supports young scientists.

Memberships and honors

Selected literature

  • W. Lauer: Humid and arid seasons in Africa and South America and their relationship to the vegetation belts . Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen 9, pp. 15–98. 1955
  • W. Lauer: On the essence of the tropics. Climate-ecological studies on the content and delimitation of an earthly landscape belt. Dep. D. Akad. D. Knowledge ad lit., Math.-nat. Kl, No. 3, Mainz 1975
  • W. Lauer: climatology . Westermann-Verlag, Braunschweig 1995
  • W. Lauer, P. Frankenberg: Climate classification of the earth ; in: Geographische Rundschau 40, Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1988
  • W. Lauer et al .: Global distribution of species diversity in vascular plants: towards a world map of phytodiversity. Geography 50, pp. 317-327, 1996.
  • W. Lauer: The climates of the earth: a classification on the basis of the ecophysiological characteristics of the real vegetation ; with 16 text tables, 3 enclosures, table attachment / by Wilhelm Lauer and M. Daud Rafiqpoor, Stuttgart 2002

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Extract from the 2007 yearbook Wilhelm Lauer February 1, 1923 - July 24, 2007
  2. ↑ Potential landscape evaporation In: klett.de . (PDF; 99 kB)
  3. ↑ a b Global distribution of species diversity in vascular plants: Towards a world map of phytodiversity , on erdkunde.uni-bonn.de, accessed on November 14, 2018
  4. ^ A b Wilhelm Lauer Foundation: Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz In: adwmainz.de , accessed on December 12, 2018.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Lauer Lecture , on adwmainz.de, accessed on November 14
  6. ^ Wilhelm-Lauer-Preis , on adwmainz.de, accessed on November 14th
  7. ^ Obituary for the high mountain researcher Wilhelm Lauer February 1 , 1923 - July 24 , 2007 , on hochgebirgsforschung.de , accessed on November 14, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Lauer, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geographer and climatologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberwesel
DATE OF DEATH July 24, 2007
Place of death Wuppertal