Reinhard Joachim Süring (15 May 1866 – 29 December 1950) was a German

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

who was a native of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. He died in Potsdam,

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

on 29 December 1950. He studied

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, obtaining his doctorate in 1890 with a thesis titled ''Temperaturabnahme in Gebirgsgegenden in ihrer Abhängigkeit von der Bewölkung''. Later that year, he became an assistant at the Prussian Meteorological Institute in Berlin, and during the following year, he went to work at the ''Meteorologisch-Magnetischen Observatoriums'' (Magnetic Meteorological Observatory) in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

(1892). In 1901 he was put in charge of the "storm department" at the Prussian Meteorological Institute, and in 1909 was appointed departmental head of the meteorological division of the Magnetic Meteorological Observatory. Following the retirement of

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

Adolf Schmidt (1860-1944), he became director of the

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

at Potsdam. Between 1893 and 1921, Süring took part in numerous scientific

high-altitude balloon High-altitude balloons or stratostats are usually uncrewed balloons typically filled with helium or hydrogen and released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2013, a balloon named BS 13-08 reached a record alti ...

experiments, being conducted with influential scientists that included,

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

s Hermann von Schrötter (1870-1928),

Nathan Zuntz Nathan Zuntz (6 October 1847, in Bonn – 22 March 1920, in Berlin) was a German physiologist born in Bonn. He was a pioneer of modern altitude physiology and aviation medicine. Academic career He studied medicine at the University of Bonn, wh ...

(1847-1920) and

Arthur Berson Arthur Josef Stanislaus Berson (6 August 1859 – 3 December 1942) was a Germany, German meteorologist and pioneer of aerology who was a native of Neu Sandez, Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia (now Nowy Sącz, Poland). After visiting the gy ...

(1859-1942). On 31 July 1901, he and Berson reached an altitude of 10,800 meters in an open

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

balloon. Scientific data taken from this ascent was beneficial to research being performed by

Richard Assmann Richard Assmann (Anglicized spelling of the German name Richard Aßmann) (13 April 1845 in Magdeburg – 28 May 1918 in Gießen) was a German meteorologist and physician who was a native of Magdeburg. He made numerous contributions in high altitud ...

(1845-1918) and

Léon Teisserenc de Bort Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

(1855-1913) in regards to their subsequent discovery of the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

in 1902. With Schrötter and Berson, he participated in tests involving the physiological effects of sub-atmospheric pressure, using a

decompression chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...

installed at the ''Jüdisches Krankenhaus'' (Jewish Hospital) in Berlin. With Julius von Hann (1839-1921), he was the author of the ''Hann/Süring: Lehrbuch der Meteorologie'', a textbook that was used for several generations by students of meteorology.

References

Potsdam Institute for Climatic Impact Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suring, Reinhard German meteorologists Scientists from Hamburg 1866 births 1950 deaths