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In the guest blog, geologist and librarian Thomas Hofmann looks at the concept of the geosphere and the roots of Geosphere Austria, founded in 2023.
In 1864, the Irish philologist and physician Hugh Doherty first used the word "geosphere" for the earth's crust in his work "Organic Philosophy" (Volume I: Epicosmology). When describing his worldview, he relied on various realms. The atmosphere (“atmospheric realm”) and the hydrosphere (“oceanic realm”) are singled out. He defined transitions and interactions between the individual areas. So he saw a separate area between the hydro and atmosphere, dominated by precipitation: "The pluvial [realm] is one of these, being intermediate between the oceanic and the atmospheric realms" (Doherty, 1864: 290). Doherty's areas surround the globe as concentric shells, which justifies the name sphere.
Around ten years later, the geologist Professor Eduard Suess, who was born in London in 1831 and lives in Vienna, also took up the image of the spheres. "Just as one has learned to divide the sun into a number of concentric shells, one can also divide the earth into shells, each of which is in many ways connected to the next one." (Suess, 1875). Continuing with Suess: "The first is the atmosphere, the second is the hydrosphere, the third is the lithosphere." He probably didn't know Doherty's work, or at least he didn't quote him.
In addition to the University of Vienna, which was founded in 1365, well-known institutions were founded here from the middle of the 19th century. Even before the year of the revolution - May 14, 1847 - Emperor Ferdinand I approved the founding of the Imperial Academy of Sciences with a focus on the humanities and natural sciences, following a proposal from Metternich in 1846. On November 15, 1849, the later Federal Geological Institute (GBA) was founded in a handwritten letter from the 19-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph ("I approve the establishment of a Reich Geological Institute..."). Wilhelm Haidinger (1795 to 1871) was its first director.
A little more than a year and a half later, on July 23, 1851, the monarch took up his pen again in Schönbrunn: "I authorize the establishment of a central institute for meteorological and magnetic observations...". Later known as ZAMG, Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics.
While the founding act of the Federal Geological Institute was no longer than a paragraph containing information about the budget - 10,000 guilders for construction and 25,000 for annual operation - the two-page letter for the meteorologists was much more detailed. Not only the name of the first director, Karl Kreil (1798 to 1862), but also his salary - 2,000 guilders - including an adjunct named Karl Fritsch - 800 guilders annual salary - were recorded by hand by the emperor, as was another bonus: the director of the institution had the "rank and character of a full professor of physics" at the University of Vienna. Kreil and Haidinger, the men from the very beginning, were also among the 40 founding members of the Academy of Sciences. This meant that there were fixed addresses, clear competencies and responsibilities for the atmosphere and lithosphere in Vienna.
The addresses of the Federal Geological Institute were always in Vienna-Landstrasse. Initially they were at Heumarkt 1 (today: Austrian Mint), where Haidinger had managed the mining museum. From 1851 onwards, the geologists moved into the noble Rasumofsky Palace, before moving to Frühlinggasse 38 in 2005. This was different for the meteorologists who began their work on Favoritenstrasse opposite the Theresianum in Vienna-Wieden on June 5, 1852, before moving to the building built by Heinrich Ferstl in Vienna-Döbling (Hohe Warte 38) in 1872.
Both Kreil and Haidinger were ahead of their time with their work even before their institutions were founded. On May 30, 1848, Kreil emphasized to the members of the Academy that meteorological observatories should be built in the Austrian states. In 1849 things happened in quick succession: on January 18th, a commission was set up to manage the meteorological observation system in the Austrian imperial state.
On March 15, 1849, Vienna, Olomouc, Brno, Graz, Ljubljana, Trieste and Gloggnitz were chosen as observation locations. Vienna was considered for the construction of a “central station”. For the latter, there was soon a to-do list with 22 points. They included "measurements of air pressure, temperature, amount of rain, earthquakes, air electricity" and documentation of observations. On August 7, 1849 it was published in the "Wiener Zeitung" under the title "Meteorological Observation System of the Austrian. Monarchy".
The challenge at the time was the provision of measuring instruments. In terms of personnel, things were simpler because the "observers' services are completely voluntary, there is no coercion and no remuneration." In other words: citizen science from the very beginning. In 1850, Kreil presented a comprehensive draft of a "meteorological observation system for the Austrian monarchy". When it was formally founded on July 23, 1851, the scientific path was already mapped out.
No wonder that Kreil is considered the father of systematic research in the fields of meteorology and magnetics. Haidinger was there in the field of geology. Based on existing map and archive documents, he had already published a "Geognostic Overview Map [sic!] of the Austrian Monarchy" in nine sheets in 1845 on a scale of 1:864,000. He himself saw in the "program" of the Geological Reich Institute of January 12, 1850 its purpose "to facilitate practice through the application of science, to promote science with the power of practice." He attached great importance to the institution's yearbook, whereby he looked outside the box thematically. In terms of content, he saw space here for "natural scientific communications from those branches that relate to geology, especially that of the Empire, geography, meteorology, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, paleontology".
When the second world congress of meteorologists in Rome in 1879 focused research on the higher air layers, high-altitude measuring stations had to be found and built. Julius Hann (1839 to 1921), then director of meteorologists at the Hohe Warte in Vienna, also became active. But without the head of mining at Sonnblick, Ignaz Rojacher (1844 to 1891), who created the necessary infrastructure such as cable cars etc. and supported the meteorologists from the start, nothing would have happened. Thanks to his help, the Sonnblick Observatory, which is open all year round, was built in 1886 on the summit of the Hoher Sonnblick (3,106 meters).
Today, the internationally renowned Sonnblick Observatory, where research into the formation of clouds is also carried out, is one of the eight staffed locations of Geosphere Austria.
Another location in addition to the customer service points in Salzburg, Graz, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt is the COBS, an acronym for the Conrad Observatory in the Gutenstein Alps in Lower Austria, which opened in 2002. It is named after the geophysicist Victor Conrad (1876 to 1962). As a Jew, he was discriminated against and persecuted and was forced into retirement in 1936 before he was able to flee to the USA in 1939. His wife Ida died in 1969 and left a well-endowed legacy, combined with the desire to build a building for geophysical and meteorological research that bears the name Victor Conrad. No sooner said than done. On May 23, 2002, 40 years after Conrad's death, the first part of the research facility, the seismic-gravimetric observatory (SGO), was opened, followed on May 21, 2014 by the magnetic observatory (GMO).
The COBS consists of two tunnels, a 145 meter long one for the SGO and a one kilometer long one for the GMO. 1.2 million of the construction cost of 2.3 million euros came from the Conrad Foundation. The combination of seismic, magnetics and gravimetry in one place is unique and plays all the pieces. The highly sensitive devices were also able to detect a nuclear weapon test in distant Korea on September 3, 2017. Of course, it took almost twelve minutes before the seismic wave reached Lower Austria.
The establishment of Geosphere Austria is part of the government program 2020 to 2024. It says on page 216: "Creation of a new national center for climate research and public services (as an institution under public law) by merging the Federal Geological Institute (GBA) and the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG)". (Thomas Hofmann, January 16, 2023).