Max Robitzsch (2 February 1887 – 10 June 1952) was a German

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

scientist and university professor. He invented the "Robitzsch Actinograph", a type of pyranometer and wrote numerous scientific books and articles. He was born in Höxter,

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...

. He also undertook an expedition into the Scandinavian arctic to research atmospheric phenomena, spending the 1912/1913 winter in

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

, Norway. His mission, together with Kurt Wegener, brother of Alfred Wegener, was to set up a

meteorological observatory Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

for the German Geophysical Observatory, which they did at the Crossbai, Ebeltofthafen (''

Ebeltofthamna Ebeltofthamna is a bay in the peninsula of Mitrahalvøya, at the western side of Krossfjorden in Albert I Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The bay is named after lawyer Adolph Ferdinand Ebeltoft. The bay is included in the Nordvest-Spitsbergen Nati ...

'' in Norwegian). During the long winter stay, they and two helpers performed 275 pilot balloon soundings, 98 tethered balloon soundings and 19 probe launches with the help of a hang glider. As of 2000, only some archeological remains of the obersvatory could be found. For much of his life (since at least 1917), he worked as a professor at the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg (German Wikipedia) in Lindenberg, Brandenburg. During the Cold War, he there undertook numerous extensive radio sounding studies of the atmosphere with

weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a ...

s, reputedly at the behalf of the Soviet occupation forces in East Germany.
Description of the 1939–1944 upper air data set (UA39_44) Version 1.0
' - Brönimann, S.;Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Monday 31 March 2003 During January to May 1950, he was director of the Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg,100 Jahre Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg des DWD - Chronologie
('Chronology', website of the

Deutscher Wetterdienst The () or DWD for short, is the German Meteorological Service, based in Offenbach am Main, Germany, which monitors weather and meteorological conditions over Germany and provides weather services for the general public and for nautical, avia ...

, in German)Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg: Historie
('History', website of the

, in German) before later on becoming professor at (and possibly the director of) the

Geophysical Institute of Leipzig Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ...

, later subsumed in the University of Leipzig.Geschichte der meteorologischen Forschung an der Universitaet Leipzig
('History of meteorological research at the University of Leipzig', in German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robitzsch, Max 1887 births 1952 deaths People from Höxter People from the Province of Westphalia German meteorologists