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Fritz Loewe

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For the composer, see Frederick Loewe.
Fritz Loewe
Born11 March 1895 Edit this on Wikidata
Died27 March 1974 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 79)
Educationdoctorate Edit this on Wikidata
Occupation
The main scientists of the German Greenland Expedition.

Fritz Loewe (11 March 1895 in Schöneberg - 27 March 1974 in Heidelberg, Victoria) was a German polar explorer, glaciologist, geophysicist and meteorologist.

After emigrating from Nazi Germany he founded the first Meteorological Institute in Australia at the University of Melbourne.[1]

Biography

Fritz was the son of judge Eugen Loewe (1855–1925) and Hedwig Loewe, nee Makower, (1869–1956). From 1908 to 1913 he was a student at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin. In World War I he served as artillery radio operator both in the Eastern and Western fronts and was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class. After the war he joined the Reich League of Jewish Front-Line Soldiers, established in 1919.[2] Initially Fritz had wanted to become a lawyer, but he left his studies and devoted himself to study physics, geography and meteorology in Berlin. In 1925 he replaced Kurt Wegener as head of the scientific flight department of the Prussian Aeronautical Observatory Lindenberg. He had wanted to be a pilot, but his eyesight was not up to the mark, so he had to take measurements and readings while sitting on the rear cockpit of the plane. In 1927 he married Else Koestler, a geography student from the Sauerland region.

Fritz Loewe took part in the preparatory trip of the German Greenland Expedition led by Alfred Wegener in 1929. Working together with Ernst Sorge he became familiar with the newly-developed seismic procedure of measuring ice thickness.[3]

In 1930-1931 he went back to Greenland to join the main expedition as a glaciologist. While in Greenland Loewe made groundbreaking research on the accumulation and ablation of snow. Following a harsh journey with Wegener to the central Eismitte station in severe weather and ice conditions his toes froze and had to be amputated. While overwintering at the station on the Greenland ice-sheet he made observations with scientists Johannes Georgi and Ernst Sorge, gathering a wealth of glaciological and meteorological data.[4] On 7 May one of the aerosledges of the expedition reached the Central Station and brought Loewe to the Western Station in only two days. During the following weeks Loewe assisted Kurt Wegener in logistical matters while he took over command of the venture following his brother Alfred Wegener's untimely death. The expedition came to an end on 1 August 1931.[5][6]

In 1932 Loewe and his colleague Ernst Sorge travelled again to Greenland to serve as technical consultants to Universal Pictures for the movie S.O.S. Eisberg directed by Arnold Fanck.[7]

In February 1934 Loewe lost his position at the Aeronautical Observatory after he was denounced as a Jew by Ernst Sorge. He spent the month of August in detention. Following this experience, Loewe decided to leave the Third Reich. He moved to England with his wife Else and his two baby daughters, Ruth (1933–2002) and Susanne (born 1934).[8][9][10]

The Scott Polar Research Institute provided Loewe a stipend for a year, which was renewed after the period ran out. He also had the chance to give lectures on climatology at Cambridge University. During this time he also processed the data collected during the Wegener Expedition and began to prepare studies on Antarctica. Finally, in 1937 Loewe left England with his family and emigrated to Australia, a move that had been recommended to him by Sir Raymond Priestley, one of the founders of the Scott Polar Research Institute and Vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Loewe was offered the opportunity to work as a teacher at the university and in 1939 he founded a meteorological institute at the university, which was the first of its kind in Australia. He led the institute for over twenty years and researched coastal fog, dust storms and "free atmosphere" conditions.

Posthumous honors

Mount Loewe and the Loewe Massif in the Aramis Range, as well as the Fritz Loewe Plateau in Adélie Land, and Loewe Island off the eastern shore of Adelaide Island in Antarctica, were named in his honor.

See also

References

  1. ^ University of Melbourne "Federation and Meteorology" - Vale Fritz Loewe
  2. ^ Unser Kamerad Loewe Teilnehmer der deutschen Grönlandexpedition. In: Der Schild. Zeitschrift des Reichsbundes Jüdischer Frontsoldaten. Band 10, Nr. 2, 22. January 1931, p. 11
  3. ^ Alfred Wegener: Mit Motorboot und Schlitten in Grönland (mit Beiträgen von Johannes Georgi, Fritz Loewe und Ernst Sorge) im Projekt Gutenberg-DE Verlag von Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld / Leipzig 1930
  4. ^ Herrmann A. Hahne. Dr. Ernst Sorge, in: Polarforschung 16, 1946, pp. 120–121
  5. ^ Summary of the Work of the German Greenland Expedition, 1930–31
  6. ^ Die Deutsche Inlandeis-Expedition 1929/31, in Polarforschung, 1 - 1
  7. ^ "Review: 'S.O.S. Eisberg'." Variety, 31 December 1932. Retrieved: 23 July 2019.
  8. ^ Cornelia Lüdecke: Die deutsche Polarforschung seit der Jahrhundertwende und der Einfluß Erich von Drygalskis. Berichte zur Polarforschung Nr. 158, Bremerhaven 1995, p. 232
  9. ^ Dr. Ruth Loewe. In: Cassirer and Cohen: Histories, relatives and descendants, Stand 7. September 2019
  10. ^ Jutta Voß: Johannes Georgi und Fritz Loewe. Zwei Polarforscherschicksale nach „Eismitte“. Aus ihrem Briefwechsel 1929–1971 sowie die gesammelten Schriftenverzeichnisse von J. Georgi und F. Loewe. In: Polarforschung 62, 1992, pp. 151–161
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