Wladimir Petrovich Köppen ( ; ; , ; 25 September 1846 – 22 June 1940) was a Russian–German

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

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 ...

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. After studies in St. Petersburg, he spent the bulk of his life and professional career in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, named after a proposal he first made in 1884, with some modifications, is still widely used. Köppen made significant contributions to several branches of science, and coined the name aerology for the science of the upper atmosphere.

Background and education

Wladimir Köppen was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He lived there until he was 20 years old. He died in Graz, Austria. Köppen's grandfather was one of several German doctors invited to Russia by Empress

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

to improve sanitation and was later personal physician to the tsar. His son, Wladimir's father,

Peter von Köppen Peter von Köppen (February 19, 1793- May 23, 1864), was a Russian ethnographer, historian, statistician, and geographer of German heritage, academician of the (now Russian Academy of Sciences), holding the civil rank of Active State Councillor. ...

(Pyotr Ivanovich Köppen in Russian) (1793–1864), was a noted

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

of ancient Russian cultures and an important contributor to intellectual exchanges between western European slavists and Russian scientists. He attended secondary school in

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, and began his studies of botany in 1864 at the University of St. Petersburg. He frequently traveled to his family's estate on the Crimean coast from St. Petersburg and to and from Simferopol, in the interior of the peninsula. The floral and geographical diversity of the Crimean peninsula, as well as the starker geographical transitions between the capital and his home, did much to awaken an interest in the relationship between climate and the natural world. In 1867, he transferred to the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

and in 1870 he defended his doctorate dissertation on the effects of temperature on plant growth at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. He served in the Prussian ambulance corps in the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

and later worked at the Central Physical Observatory in St. Petersburg. He identified five major climatic groups, which correspond with the five main vegetation groups: * Tropical rainy climate * Dry climate * Warm temperature rainy climate * Snowy and cold climate * Polar climate

Career and contributions

Köppen was a principal founder of modern

climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospher ...

and

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

. Between 1850 and 1860, Köppen contributed to Seewart's sailing handbooks for the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans by studying ship reports over the winds of different oceans. Between 1872 and 1873 Köppen was employed in the Russian meteorological service as an assistant where he helped prepare the daily synoptic weather map. In 1875, he moved back to Germany and became the chief of the new Division of Marine Meteorology at the German naval observatory (Deutsche Seewarte) based in

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 ...

. There, he was responsible for establishing a

weather forecasting Weather forecasting or weather prediction is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather info ...

service for the northwestern part of Germany and the adjacent sea areas. After four years of service, he was able to move on to his primary interest of fundamental research, and left the meteorological office. Köppen began a systematic study of the

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

and also experimented with balloons to obtain data from upper layers of the atmosphere. In 1884, he published the first version of his map of climatic zones in which the seasonal temperature ranges were plotted. It led to the development of the

system around 1900, which he kept improving for the rest of his life. The full version of his system appeared first in 1918; after several modifications, the final version was published in 1936. Koppen_map

Apart from the description of various climate types, he was acquainted with

paleoclimatology Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

as well. In 1924, he and his son-in-law

Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...

published a paper called ''Die Klimate der Geologischen Vorzeit'' (The climates of the geological past) providing crucial support to the Milanković

theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

s. Also, in 1911 he co-wrote ''The Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere'', a textbook that became very popular. Towards the end of his life, Köppen cooperated with the German climatologist Rudolf Geiger to produce a five-volume work, ''Handbuch der Klimatologie'' (Handbook of Climatology). It was never completed, but several parts, three of them by Köppen, were published. After Köppen's death in 1940, Geiger continued to work on modifications to the climate classification system. Köppen was a prolific scientist, producing more than 500 papers, and he retained his intellectual curiosity and wide range of interests throughout his life. In 1890, he co-authored the first cloud atlas. Alongside scientific pursuits, he was actively involved in social questions, devoting much time and energy to such problems of land-use and

school reform A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

and nutrition for the underprivileged. He was a strong advocate for the use of

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

in the cause of world peace, translating several of his publications into Esperanto. He had a wife, Marie, and five children including his daughter Else, who married Köppen's student

. Marie's sister Sophie and her children moved in with the Köppens in 1888.

Bibliography

* Köppen, Wladimir and Wegener, Alfred (1924):
The Climates of the Geological Past
' Facsimile of the German original and English translation of ''Die Klimate der Geologischen Vorzeit''. Berlin; Stuttgart: Gebr. Borntraeger. . * Köppen, Wladimir; Jörn Thiede (2018)
Wladimir ''Köppen: Scholar for Life'' (''Ein Gelehrtenleben für die Meteorologie'')
Borntraeger Science Publishers. , 316pp. English and German language biography of Wladimir Köppen, highlighting his research with an updated bibliography.

Notes

References

Sources

* Allaby, Michael (2000). ''Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate''. New York: Facts On File, Inc. . * Wille, Robert-Jan Wille (2017)
Colonizing the Free Atmosphere: Wladimir Köppen’s ‘Aerology’, the German Maritime Observatory, and the Emergence of a Trans-Imperial Network of Weather Balloons and Kites, 1873–1906
, History of Meteorology 8 (2017).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koppen, Wladimir German climatologists German meteorologists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany German phytogeographers 1846 births 1940 deaths .Wladimir Meteorologists from the Russian Empire Esperantists from the Russian Empire Scientists from Saint Petersburg 19th-century German geologists 20th-century German geologists 19th-century German botanists 20th-century German botanists Russian geographers Phytogeographers Russian scientists 19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian botanists