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In the guest blog, geologist and librarian Thomas Hofmann compares a scientific obituary with autobiographical notes.
"Already in his early youth, inspired by his uncle, who worked as a physicist at the Krems high school, he showed a great fondness for astronomy, and so it is natural that he dedicated himself specifically to studying this subject at the university," said the astronomer Viktor Oberguggenberger in the obituary of Adalbert Prey (1873–1949). He praises him as an excellent scientist, but without going into detail about his personality.
But what was Prey really like? Who was the uncle? Details can be found in Prey's autobiography, which in turn only contains personal and private information. The combination of both sources shows a good work-life balance. Here the committed and successful scientist, there the well-connected socialite who found his personal balance in a variety of conversations and music.
Back to the uncle, whose name was Alois. According to Prey's autobiography, he had studied mathematics and physics and "after passing the teaching examination (1867), following his inclination, he became (1869) an assistant at the old Vienna observatory on Jesuitenplatz under the direction of Karl von Littrow." The next stop was the naval observatory in Trieste, where he didn't feel well because "he couldn't tolerate the Italian diet and he couldn't get any better with his limited resources." When a position was advertised at the Krems high school, Alois Prey came back. Mind you: “not out of an inner calling”. He devoted his free time to "calculating the orbit of the planet Ariadne".
Contact with Uncle Alois arose through the Prey family's summer vacations in Stein an der Donau. "The walks with the uncle were very popular because you could ask him about anything. Sometimes he also took us to the physics institute and showed us some experiments there. We often went to the Kremser and Mautinger Auen back then."
Adalbert's path was marked out by Uncle Alois. In 1896, Adalbert completed his astronomy studies with the dissertation "On the shape and position of the Milky Way" and became an assistant at the Vienna University Observatory. A year later, the teaching qualification for physics and mathematics followed. He then became a one-year volunteer with the Vienna 1st Landwehr Infantry Regiment. In 1902 he completed his habilitation in astronomy and advanced geodesy at the University of Vienna, and four years later at the Vienna University of Technology (now TU). When the astronomer Egon von Oppolzer, founder of the observatory there, died in Innsbruck on June 15, 1907, the question of replacement became urgent. The self-confident Prey said: “Actually, only I was considered for that.” If you follow the reading in the obituary, "Prey was entrusted with the management of the observatory, which is now affiliated to the University of Innsbruck, in 1909. In 1911 he was appointed associate professor." But it wasn't that easy. For Prey, who worked in Vienna, his career in Innsbruck began hesitantly. "The government did not want to appoint a real associate professor, but I was only supposed to be sent to Innsbruck to look after the chair and the observatory."
The construct was complicated: Prey had to pay a "substitute" to replace his work in Vienna, but received a staff allowance. In terms of salary, this was equivalent to an extraordinariate position. He also received the title, but as "tit.a.o. of Vienna" because he was a private lecturer there. Before he settled down in Innsbruck, he stayed at the “Grauen Bären” (Universitätsstrasse 5–7). "It wouldn't have been easy to oversleep, because every day the bell of the Jesuit church near me literally threw me out of bed with the first strike at 5 o'clock sharp." He made contact with the Innsbruck scholars while playing bowling, where colleagues from all faculties gathered. "Hörmann (canon law), Kretschmar and Schulze (both Romanists), Ehrendorfer (gynecology), Pommer and his assistant Hiebler (anatomists), Kerschner (histology), Merk (dermatologist), Pick (anatomist), Mayrhofer (dentist), Neviny (pharmacologist); Kudisch (Eastern law); Tumlirz and Lerch represented physics." The bowling evenings gave him recognition; he "soon had the fame of one of the best bowler pushers in the company." This should not be without consequences and obligations, as Prey noted. "Since I got to know so many colleagues from the other faculties at the bowling evening, I had no choice but to visit the entire university."
There are hardly any professional focuses in the autobiography. The obituary by Oberguggenberger (1893–1963), which reports on Prey's "investigations into isostasy in the Alps based on gravity measurements in Tyrol" carried out in Innsbruck in 1912 and 1914, closes this gap. In this way, Prey, as a geophysicist, shows his scientific alter ego to that of the astronomer.
He spent his military service in the First World War primarily in Tyrol, at times in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt, at least far from the front.
In 1917 he accepted a position as professor at the Prague Observatory. He had no stress there. "As a university professor, I had a lot of free time." Prey was dedicated to culture ("went to the theater quite a bit"). He meticulously records details about deficits in the performance of the Prague Opera after the First World War. In “Lohengrin,” the curtain rose too early, “and the director was still on stage in his black overalls.” However, he only has positive things to say about the Sunday chamber music concerts, the meeting place of the “Prague German world”.
When he writes "my regular table was one of the joys of our stay in Prague," he also mentions his wife's leisure activities. She found diversion in playing cards (tarot). Prey, who played the cello himself - "My own quartet was at its best under Schenkl's leadership" - also joined the singing club. "We sang a cappella things."
He writes little about professional matters, only mentioning his visit to the first astronomers' meeting in Potsdam. If it weren't for Guggenberger's obituary - "A wealth of valuable works, mostly of a geophysical nature, created in the Prague years" - one might get the impression that Prey was primarily dedicated to the muse of music. But that was apparently not the case, otherwise he would not have become a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna in 1929.
After 13 years in Prague, on April 1, 1930, he accepted a position as professor of theoretical astronomy at the University of Vienna. But before that, “there were several big farewell parties.” Adalbert then moved to Vienna with his wife Mathilde and their children Sigmund (1912–1992), who had completed his high school diploma in Prague, and Irmgard (1916–1940).
Here, too, his work as a university professor was probably not stressful for him. "My academic position was very pleasant. I was the theoretician, I only had to give lectures, I had no institute and therefore no trouble with the washerwomen." The social connections were still there or were quickly restored. "The faculty evenings that took place at the golden Hirschen in Alserstrasse (No. 33) were a very happy and also heavily alcoholic event." In 1935, as he finds it worth mentioning in his autobiography, he became a full member of the Academy of Sciences, not without also mentioning the detention sessions in passing. Of course the music wasn't neglected. The Preys were avid concertgoers with broad interests: "string quartets and wind instruments, symphony concerts, solo concerts and so on." Adalbert himself played in the "Renolt Quartet near Rothmiller" from 1932 until the start of the war.
Its scientific impact was no less important. On June 2, 1943, he spoke at the ceremonial meeting of the Academy of Sciences "On the Constitution of the Earth and its Crust." On January 19th for the war disabled “About the Earth’s Interior”; The Neue Wiener Tagblatt headlined on January 20th “The continents are floating floes”.
The last weeks of the war in the spring of 1945 were unforgettable. "The battle raged at the Belt, the Ring and Franz Josef Kai, the Stefanskirche went up in flames, as did the Burgtheater, the opera and the parliament." He himself had a different view of his house in Vienna-Währing (Eckpergasse 38): "The cannons were in our immediate vicinity, but since we were certain that we were not the target, we were able to sit in the garden despite the constant thunder of cannons."
The post-war period was barren, life continued on all levels. "Vienna only lives on peas anymore. We don't even know where so many peas come from, but we haven't had any meat at all yet." In November 1945 he was elected Secretary of the Academy of Sciences. He retired in May 1946. In June he celebrated his 50th anniversary with his doctorate and continued to work as an honorary professor.
Adalbert Prey died on the night of December 22, 1949. Unterguggenberger paid tribute to his final time: "Just a few weeks before his death, in recognition of his services, he was appointed chairman of the Austrian Commission for International Earth Measurements." (Thomas Hofmann, July 25, 2023)