Erich von Drygalski
Encyclopedia
Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (February 9, 1865 – January 10, 1949) was a German
geographer
, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg
, Province of Prussia
.
Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics
and natural science
at the University of Königsberg
, Bonn
, Berlin
and Leipzig
. He graduated with a doctorate thesis about ice shields in Nordic areas. Between 1888 and 1891, he was an assistant at the Geodetic
Institute and the Central Office of International Geodetics in Berlin.
Drygalski led two expeditions between 1891 and 1893, which were supplied by the Society for Geoscience of Berlin. One expedition wintered during the winter between 1892 and 1893 in Western Greenland
. He habilitated
1889 for geography and geophysics with the collected scientific evidence. In 1898, Drygalski became associate professor and 1899 extraordinary professor for geography
and geophysics
in Berlin.
Drygalski led the first German South Polar
expedition with the ship Gauss to explore the unknown area of Antarctica lying south of the Kerguelen Islands
. The expedition started from Kiel
in the summer of 1901. A small party of the expedition was also stationed on the Kerguelen Islands, while the main party proceeded further south. Drygalski also paid a brief call to Heard Island and provided the first comprehensive scientific information on the island's geology, flora and fauna. Despite being trapped by ice for nearly fourteen months until February 1903, the expedition discovered new territory in Antarctica, the Kaiser Wilhelm II Land
with the Gaussberg
. The expedition arrived back in Kiel in November 1903. Subsequently, Drygalski wrote the narrative of the expedition and edited the voluminous scientific data. Between 1905 and 1931, he published twenty volumes
and two atlas
es documenting the expedition.
, where he also presided the Geographic Institute, founded by him, until his death. In 1910, he also took part in Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
's expedition to Spitsbergen
and participated in other expeditions to North America
and northeastern Asia
. He died 1949 in Munich.
, Drygalski Glacier
, and an alley in the southern part of Munich were named after him, as is the crater Drygalski
on the Moon. An archive in the Ludwig Maximilians University remembers his pioneering efforts. He also has a South African spider named after him, Araneus drygalskii (Strand, 1909), based on material collected on the Gauss expedition.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, Province of Prussia
Province of Prussia
The Province of Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1829-1878 created out of the provinces of East Prussia and West Prussia....
.
Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
at the University of Königsberg
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as second Protestant academy by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina....
, Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. He graduated with a doctorate thesis about ice shields in Nordic areas. Between 1888 and 1891, he was an assistant at the Geodetic
Geodesy
Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...
Institute and the Central Office of International Geodetics in Berlin.
Drygalski led two expeditions between 1891 and 1893, which were supplied by the Society for Geoscience of Berlin. One expedition wintered during the winter between 1892 and 1893 in Western Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. He habilitated
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
1889 for geography and geophysics with the collected scientific evidence. In 1898, Drygalski became associate professor and 1899 extraordinary professor for geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
and geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
in Berlin.
Gauss expedition
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
expedition with the ship Gauss to explore the unknown area of Antarctica lying south of the Kerguelen Islands
Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen Islands , also known as the Desolation Islands, are a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean constituting the emerged part of the otherwise submerged Kerguelen Plateau. The islands, along with Adélie Land, the Crozet Islands and the Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands are part of...
. The expedition started from Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
in the summer of 1901. A small party of the expedition was also stationed on the Kerguelen Islands, while the main party proceeded further south. Drygalski also paid a brief call to Heard Island and provided the first comprehensive scientific information on the island's geology, flora and fauna. Despite being trapped by ice for nearly fourteen months until February 1903, the expedition discovered new territory in Antarctica, the Kaiser Wilhelm II Land
Kaiser Wilhelm II Land
Kaiser Wilhelm II Land is the part of Antarctica lying between Cape Penck, at 87°43'E, and Cape Filchner, at 91°54'E and is claimed as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, although this claim is not universally recognized....
with the Gaussberg
Gaussberg
Gaussberg is an extinct volcanic cone, 370 metres high , fronting on Davis Sea immediately west of the Posadowsky Glacier in Kaiser Wilhelm II Land in Antarctica....
. The expedition arrived back in Kiel in November 1903. Subsequently, Drygalski wrote the narrative of the expedition and edited the voluminous scientific data. Between 1905 and 1931, he published twenty volumes
Volume (disambiguation)
Volume is the amount of space an object occupies.Volume may also refer to:*Volume *Volume , related to:**Amplitude**Loudness**Sound pressure**Dynamics...
and two atlas
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets in the Solar System. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats...
es documenting the expedition.
Later years
From October 1906 until his retirement, Drygalski was a professor in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, where he also presided the Geographic Institute, founded by him, until his death. In 1910, he also took part in Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company...
's expedition to Spitsbergen
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
and participated in other expeditions to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and northeastern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. He died 1949 in Munich.
Trivia
Drygalski IslandDrygalski Island
Drygalski Island is an ice-capped island with a dome about high that is long and rises to in the Davis Sea of the Southern Ocean about north of the coast of Queen Mary Land and north-northeast of Cape Filchner. Drygalski Island is located at and has an elevation of . Drygalski Island has an...
, Drygalski Glacier
Drygalski Glacier
The Drygalski Ice Tongue or Drygalski Barrier or Drygalski Glacier Tongue is a glacier in Antarctica, located on the Scott Coast, in the northern McMurdo Sound of Antarctica's Ross Dependency, north of Ross Island. The ice tongue is located at...
, and an alley in the southern part of Munich were named after him, as is the crater Drygalski
Drygalski (crater)
Drygalski is a large lunar impact crater that lies along the southern limb of the Moon. It partly overlies the crater Ashbrook to the west on the far side of the Moon. Just to the north of Drygalski is the smaller Boltzmann. The location of this crater restricts its observation from the Earth, and...
on the Moon. An archive in the Ludwig Maximilians University remembers his pioneering efforts. He also has a South African spider named after him, Araneus drygalskii (Strand, 1909), based on material collected on the Gauss expedition.