Friedrich Hopfner
Friedrich Hopfner ( born October 28, 1881 in Trautenau, Bohemia, † September 5, 1949 in Hintersteinersee See, Tirol - drowned ) was an Austrian geophysicists, planetary scientist and university professor of geodesy.
After meteorological service as an officer in the First World War he was chief astronomer in 1921 at the Vienna Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying. From 1936 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1949 he was professor at the Technical University of Vienna, where he last held the office of rector.
Biography
Friedrich Hopfner was born on 28 October 1881 Trautenau in northern Bohemia, studied from 1899 to 1904 Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy and Cosmic Physics in Prague and Munich and received his doctorate in 1905 at the Karl- Ferdinand University in Prague. His dissertation was titled " The mean and relative distribution of the temperature on the surface of the earth ." He then was an assistant at the Observatory Prague and at the meteorological institutes in Berlin, Innsbruck and Vienna. In 1908 he came to the Imperial and Royal Marine Observatory of Trieste (now Istituto Talassografico di Trieste ), 1912, he was appointed to the measurement of a degree office in Vienna.
Since 1916, the tall officer was head of the field Meteorological Service of Isonzo Army. When in 1921 the new Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying was built, was appointed to the chief astronomer Hopfner for scientific surveying service. In 1936 he was appointed Professor of Higher Geodesy and Spherical Astronomy at the Technical University in Vienna. There he took over the chair from Richard Schumann.
By the Nazis, he was in 1938 to compulsory retirement. Thereafter he lived in retirement with his family in Schoenbuehel on the Danube, where he devoted himself to his scientific work. A sample obtained in the fall of 1942 invitation to enter as a corresponding member of the Hitler launched by the Academy of Sciences in Prague refused Hopfner from. After the war ended in 1945 he was immediately reinstated in his professorship he extracted from Vienna and was elected Dean of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Physics.
He was respected by staff and colleagues at the University through its highly - friendly stately fashion. For the academic year 1948/49, he was elected " Rector magnificus " of the Technical University of Vienna, but drowned in the last month of his duties by an accident in the back of Steiner Lake near Kufstein.
Services
His training after he was from the beginning a full-fledged representative of astronomy, geodesy, geophysics and meteorology - not only in theoretical but also in practical terms - and published in all four subjects. Three well-known textbooks written by him ( see below).
Orbit determination of asteroids
The scientific activity Hopfners is extremely versatile. In his early years he dealt more with meteorological and astronomical problems. Significantly, the first orbit determination and ephemeris calculations for a number of asteroids. They come from several years of close collaboration with the planetary scientist Johann Palisa.
Mathematical foundations to an astronomical theory of climate fluctuations
In 1906 he began with the treatment of issues in the border area between astronomy and geophysics. The first works dealing with the problem of heat radiation of the earth by the sun. Hopfner it was going to do mainly a matter of working out the fundamental difference between the daily and seasonal average insolation sharp. 1927, the theme of it was again discussed in more detail. The insights he put in his work, " Mathematical foundations to an astronomical theory of climate fluctuations " down. For this work he received the blessing Prize in Bohemia.
Studies on the tidal
His many years of service at the Marine Observatory in Trieste also prompted him to research on nautical matters such as about the tides or the determination of harmonic constants of the level at the Port of Trieste, which are important for Central Europe height reference represented meters above the Adriatic.
Higher Geodesy and Geophysics
With its entry into the degree measurement office in Vienna and the Austrian Federal Surveying Office 1921 he turns to the problems of Higher Geodesy and Geophysics. The first relate geodetic work calculations for " meridian arc Großenhain Kremsmuenster - Pola ", where he outlines the method of Lotabweichungsgleichungen detail (published 1922). Later, he delves into the important issue " figure of the earth " - eg the issues of reduction of observed gravity values and isostasy (study of the mass balance of the earth's crust ). From the 1930s to dominate research on ellipsoids and equilibrium shapes of the earth, for example, the ellipticity of the Earth's equator, the flattening of the Niveausphäroide and the triaxial Jacobi ellipsoids.
Research area Austria
Hopfner pioneered the wireless determination of astronomical lengths in Austria (first use of time signals ), as well as in the implementation of extensive modern gravity measurements. In cooperation with the Vienna Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics new geomagnetic recording of Austria was born. This successful work laid the foundation for today's international standing of this institution.
Membership and functions
- Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
- President of the Austrian Commission for International Geodesy
- Correspondent of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics
- Corresponding Member of the German Society for Science and the Arts in the Czechoslovak Republic
- Member of the Vienna Mathematical Society
Awards and prizes
In honor of his contributions donated Austrian Geodetic Commission 1977, " Friedrich Hopfner Medal", which is awarded every four years for outstanding achievements in the field of geodesy.
In 1971 in Vienna Simmering ( 11th district ) of Hopfnerweg was named after him.
Works and scientific posts
Friedrich Hopfner wrote a total of 81 subject-specific publications. Below is a small selection of them (3 textbooks highlighted):