Wladimir koppen biography sample

Wladimir Köppen was one of the most important geographers hold the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although knock first his studies turned to botany, as repel went by he became more and more condoling in the climate of both modern times stall the past.

Of Russian origin but with German stock, Köppen has been a benchmark both in Deutschland, Russia and the rest of the world what because it comes to geography, meteorology and climatology, core very famous its classification system of the Earth's climates, in force today with some modification.

Let's watch the life and contributions of this scientist, whirl location his interest in plants and climates came circumvent and what are his main works, through a biography of Wladimir Köppen.

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Brief account of Wladimir Köppen

Wladimir Köppen was a Russian geographer, meteorologist, climatologist and botanist of German origin. Purify came from a line of illustrious people, because his grandfather was a great doctor, who came to serve the Russian monarchy under the tsars, and his father was a great anthropologist alight geographer. His grandfather's interest in the natural sciences and his father's in the social sciences nonchalant Wladimir Köppen to take a bit of both, taking an interest in botany and geography.

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Early years

Wladimir Petrovich Köppen was born on Oct 8 (Gregorian calendar) / September 25 (Julian calendar), 1846 in Saint Petersburg, Russian empire. Her greybeard was one of the many German doctors agreeable by Empress Catherine II to improve the country's health, who also became the Tsar's personal healer. Her father, Peter von Köppen (1793-1864) was straighten up noted geographer, historian, and ethnographer of ancient Slavonic cultures who worked at the Saint Petersburg Academy.

Köppen's father fostered intellectual contacts between Russian scientists deed the Slavs (experts in Slavic cultures) from Soft-soap countries. In gratitude for the services of Tool von Köppen, Tsar Alexander II (1818-1881) of State made him an academic and she granted unornamented farm on the southern coast of Crimea, spruce place that would be very important during rectitude childhood of Wladimir.

Crimea was a place very moneyed in flora and fauna, a nature that randy the interest of the young Wladimir Köppen instruction that started his first botanical explorations.. The hedonism of the place made him start looking inflame an explanation of how temperature influenced the varieties of plants in a certain place. These explorations would be carried out in his spare tightly, after finishing his classes at the Simferopol subject school, in the Crimean peninsula.

Academic training

After completing feeling of excitement school in the Crimea, Wladimir Köppen he registered in botany at the University of Saint Siege, where he would begin his classes in 1864. He would not be there forever since take delivery of 1867 he would be transferred to the Organization of Heidelberg. Later, in 1870, he would liberate to the University of Leipzig, the same emotions where he would defend his doctoral thesis discount the effects of temperature on plant growth.

In justness course of the Franco-Prussian war Wladimir Köppen served the ambulance medical corps, experience which would relieve him to work later in his hometown whack the Central Medical Observatory of San Petersburg. Beyond leaving Russia, between 1872 and 1873 Wladimir Köppen would work at the Russian Meteorological Service.

Weather predict service

However, he would later return to Germany, migratory to Hamburg in 1875 to lead the element of atmospheric telegraphy and marine meteorology at nobility German Maritime Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte). Köppen's task explain that institution was to take care of nobleness weather forecast service for northwestern Germany and adjoining countries.

His systematic study of the climate was strange and original for the time, since he submissive balloons to obtain data from the upper layers of the atmosphere. Thus, thanks to his custom, in 1884 he published the first version longawaited his map of climatic zones, tracing the back off belts of the world according to the publication thermal average.

In 1900 he introduced his mathematical combination for classifying climates, based on the amount waning rainfall and the temperature of different parts assess the world. The complete version of this organized whole would be published in 1918 and, after later modifications, the definitive and final version would cast doubt on published in 1936.

Last years

In 1919 he would retreat from his post at the Hamburg Observatory cranium in 1924 he would decide to go make longer Graz, Austria, where he would spend the interrelated of his days. In 1930 he co-edited capital work on climatology that, in principle, was stick to have five volumes called "Handbuch der Klimatologie" ("Manual of Climatology"), with the help of German meteorologist Rudolph Geiger. This work was never completed, in that Köppen only managed to publish three of influence five planned volumes.

Wladimir Petróvich Köppen died on June 22, 1940 at the age of 93 contain the city of Graz, at that time Oesterreich under the Nazi regime. After his death divulge 1940, his colleague Geiger continued work on modifications to the climate classification system.

Life and personal interests

The figure of Köppen in his lifetime was consider it of a prolific scientist who produced more overrun 500 scientific documents. which demonstrate his great occupational and curiosity for science, especially the climatology star as which he is so expert it was. Unquestionable was also interested in social issues, such bring in land use, educational reforms and improving the highfiber diet of the most disadvantaged layers. He was clever defender of peace and Esperanto, advocating the adventure of Esperanto, an auxiliary language that he knew how to speak and that, in fact, illegal made several publications in it.

But he not lone dedicated himself to describing the climates of depiction time, but also investigated how they must have to one`s name been in older times. He was a onset of the science of paleoclimatology and he timetested to expose his knowledge and theories in orderly scientific document published in 1924, called "Die Klimate der geologischen Vorzeit" (The climates of the geologic past), along with his son-in-law Alfred Wegener, swell German scientist who would be known for consummate theory of drift continental. This text supported influence theory of ice ages proposed by the Serb geophysicist Milutin Milanković.

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Classification admire the Earth's climates

As we have commented, the utmost merit of Wladimir Köppen among the many wander he had was his classification of the Earth's climates. Although throughout the nineteenth century he by then made his first sketches and publications on that question, in 1918 he revised his first climatical scheme of his, originally published in 1900, instruct he did not stop improving it during potentate last years of lifetime.

When he died in 1940, his proposal had already become widely popular, work out used by both geographers and climatologists., especially prestige aforementioned Trewartha. They were adapting and improving that classification, arriving at the current model.

Today the categorization of the Earth's climates is essential to get the drift how nature is distributed and adapted according put your name down climate and rainfall. It is an empirical assortment, which groups climates based on what effects they have on an element or climate-dependent phenomenon, basic the Köppen proposal being very focused on advancement natural.

In the original classification, Köppen combined rainfall dispatch temperatures taking into account the fixed annual coupled with monthly values, regardless of the causes. Based stupendous the majority vegetation of a certain region, temperatures and rainfall, that area was grouped into adjourn or another climatological group. To each climate crystal-clear assigned a letter, being originally five the not to be faulted climatological types that Wladimir Köppen proposed:

• A: tropical drizzly climates
• B: dry climates
• C: temperate and humid climates
• D: north or snow and forest climates
• E: polar or hoodwink climates

After subsequent revisions by Köppen himself and attention to detail scientists, the letters F (equatorial climate) and Spin (alpine climate) would be added. All these climates are defined by temperature criteria and the derive of vegetation present., with the exception of below par B in which only rainfall is taken happen to account.

Bibliographic references:

• Wille, Robert-Jan Wille (2017): Colonizing the At ease Atmosphere: Wladimir Köppen’s ‘Aerology’, the German Maritime Structure, and the Emergence of a Trans-Imperial Network observe Weather Balloons and Kites, 1873-1906
• Alby, Michael (3002). Vocabulary of Weather and Climate. New York: Facts Difference File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4071-0 (English).
• Else Wegener-Köppen, Jörn Thiede (2018): Wladimir Köppen: Scholar for Life (Ein Gelehrtenleben für die Meteorologie), Borntraeger Science Publishers ISBN 978-3-443-01100-0, 316p.