Karl Kreil (1798–1862) was an Austrian

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

, born in

Ried __NOTOC__ Ried may refer to: Places Alsace * Ried (natural region) Austria *Ried in der Riedmark, a market town in Upper Austria *Ried im Innkreis, a city in Upper Austria and the surrounding Bezirk Ried im Innkreis *Ried im Oberinntal, a village ...

. Before university, he was educated at the Benedictine

Kremsmünster Abbey Kremsmünster Abbey (german: Stift Kremsmünster) is a Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. History The monastery was founded in 777 AD by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria. According to the foundation legend, Tassilo founded the ...

, under the astronomer Boniface Schwarzenbrunner. He was educated at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, where he studied law before devoting himself to astronomy. In 1827 he became an assistant at the

Vienna Observatory The Vienna Observatory (german: Universitätssternwarte Wien) is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings ...

, from which he went to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1831 and thence in 1838 to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where he was from 1845 to 1851 director of the observatory, then returned to Vienna to take charge of the Central Meteorological and Magnetic Bureau. He made particularly important studies of

terrestrial magnetism Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic fi ...

, discovering (1841) that it is practically unaffected by the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

and writing ''Anleitung zu den magnetischen Beobachtungen'' (second edition, 1858). Many automatically registering meteorological machines were devised by him. From 1849 until his death, he edited the ''Jahrbuch'' of the Central Bureau at Vienna. He wrote many works, including: * ''Cenni storici e teoretici sulle comete'' (1832) * ''Ueber die Natur und Bewegung der Kometen'' (1843) * ''Klimatologie von Böhmen'' (1865)

References

Austrian meteorologists 19th-century Austrian astronomers Austrian male writers Austrian Roman Catholics 1798 births 1862 deaths {{europe-astronomer-stub

See also

References