Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work
Professor Ertel was born on March 24, 1904. He died July 2, 1971. He lived and worked in Berlin. His scientific career began at the former Preußisches Meteorologisches Institut in Berlin. Here he was encouraged and intellectually formed by Professors Heinrich von Ficker and Albert Defant. He continu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Borntraeger
2004-12-01
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| Series: | Meteorologische Zeitschrift |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2004/0013-0453 |
| _version_ | 1797320681617096704 |
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| author | Heinz Fortak |
| author_facet | Heinz Fortak |
| author_sort | Heinz Fortak |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Professor Ertel was born on March 24, 1904. He died July 2, 1971. He lived and worked in Berlin. His scientific career began at the former Preußisches Meteorologisches Institut in Berlin. Here he was encouraged and intellectually formed by Professors Heinrich von Ficker and Albert Defant. He continued and completed many of the contributions made by the then leading theoretical meteorologist Felix Exner, who lived in Vienna at that time. Ertel developed into a very able theoretical physicist who became noticed in this field already when still a young man. In 1943 he became a full professor of meteorology and geophysics at the Universität Innsbruck, Austria, and in 1946 he became a full professor of geophysics at the Universität Berlin, since 1949 named Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In both instances he was the chairman of the respective departments. As a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin he founded and chaired in addition an Institut für Physikalische Hydrographie of that academy. From 1951 to 1961 he was vice-president of the academy. Ertel was an excellent scientific teacher who set standards for his students scarcely found elsewhere. Many of the students of the 40s and later admired him not just as a teacher and superior scientist, but also as an amiable and generous human being. Ertel was a very versatile scientist. He enriched the literature with important and very original contributions in fields such as meteorology, geophysics (narrowly understood), oceanography, physical hydrography, particle physics, cosmology, mathematics, and even philosophy of science. Up to 1948 he made scientific contributions particularly to problems concerning theoretical meteorology, which had not been fully recognized on an international level. He made a number of contributions (including the well-known vorticity theorem) between 1936 and 1948 long before they were newly discovered on an international level. From 1948 on, following the founding of the Institut für Physikalische Hydrographie in the Akademie der Wissenschaften, he devoted his effort to theoretical contributions, which were rather rare in physical hydrography (more than 60 papers). On the other hand, owing to his great expertise in mathematics and his rather rare visions in physics, he became an internationally recognized and leading theoretical hydrodynamicist. In this paper the life of Hans Ertel is followed chronologically together with his papers, which at his time were at top level internationally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:46:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-275a42b3381248709ebb751a06152fbc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0941-2948 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:46:30Z |
| publishDate | 2004-12-01 |
| publisher | Borntraeger |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Meteorologische Zeitschrift |
| spelling | doaj.art-275a42b3381248709ebb751a06152fbc2024-02-08T08:44:37ZengBorntraegerMeteorologische Zeitschrift0941-29482004-12-0113645346410.1127/0941-2948/2004/0013-045353380Hans Ertel's life and his scientific workHeinz FortakProfessor Ertel was born on March 24, 1904. He died July 2, 1971. He lived and worked in Berlin. His scientific career began at the former Preußisches Meteorologisches Institut in Berlin. Here he was encouraged and intellectually formed by Professors Heinrich von Ficker and Albert Defant. He continued and completed many of the contributions made by the then leading theoretical meteorologist Felix Exner, who lived in Vienna at that time. Ertel developed into a very able theoretical physicist who became noticed in this field already when still a young man. In 1943 he became a full professor of meteorology and geophysics at the Universität Innsbruck, Austria, and in 1946 he became a full professor of geophysics at the Universität Berlin, since 1949 named Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In both instances he was the chairman of the respective departments. As a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin he founded and chaired in addition an Institut für Physikalische Hydrographie of that academy. From 1951 to 1961 he was vice-president of the academy. Ertel was an excellent scientific teacher who set standards for his students scarcely found elsewhere. Many of the students of the 40s and later admired him not just as a teacher and superior scientist, but also as an amiable and generous human being. Ertel was a very versatile scientist. He enriched the literature with important and very original contributions in fields such as meteorology, geophysics (narrowly understood), oceanography, physical hydrography, particle physics, cosmology, mathematics, and even philosophy of science. Up to 1948 he made scientific contributions particularly to problems concerning theoretical meteorology, which had not been fully recognized on an international level. He made a number of contributions (including the well-known vorticity theorem) between 1936 and 1948 long before they were newly discovered on an international level. From 1948 on, following the founding of the Institut für Physikalische Hydrographie in the Akademie der Wissenschaften, he devoted his effort to theoretical contributions, which were rather rare in physical hydrography (more than 60 papers). On the other hand, owing to his great expertise in mathematics and his rather rare visions in physics, he became an internationally recognized and leading theoretical hydrodynamicist. In this paper the life of Hans Ertel is followed chronologically together with his papers, which at his time were at top level internationally.http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2004/0013-0453 |
| spellingShingle | Heinz Fortak Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work Meteorologische Zeitschrift |
| title | Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work |
| title_full | Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work |
| title_fullStr | Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work |
| title_short | Hans Ertel's life and his scientific work |
| title_sort | hans ertel s life and his scientific work |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2004/0013-0453 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT heinzfortak hansertelslifeandhisscientificwork |