- Carl Koldewey
Infobox Person
name = Carl Christian Koldewey
image_size = 200px
caption = Carl Christian Koldewey
birth_date = birth date|1837|10|26
birth_place =Bücken ,Germany
death_date = death date and age|1908|05|17|1837|10|26
death_place =Hamburg
education =
occupation =Explorer
spouse =
parents = Johann Christian Koldewey, Wilhelmine Meyer
children =Carl Christian Koldewey (born
October 26 1837 inBücken nearHoya, Germany ; diedMay 17 1908 inHamburg ) was a German Arctic explorer.Life and career
Koldewey was the son of merchant Johann Christian Koldewey and his wife Wilhelmine Meyer. Koldewey enrolled as a sailor in 1853 immediately after grammar school at
Clausthal . At 22 he attended the naval school inBremen , where he was amongArthur Breusing 's best pupils. Later he went to sea again but returned to naval school in 1861. After becoming a captain, Koldewey studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy at the universities ofHanover andGöttingen between 1866 and 1867.Expeditions
Through his teacher Breusing and encouraged by
August Petermann Koldewey was given the leadership of the firstArctic expedition as captain of ship "Grönland". He had the choice of either advancing northwards as far as possible alongGreenland 's east coast or to reach so-called Gillis-Land by travelling aroundSpitsbergen . But adverse conditions and strong ice floes prevented him from reaching both destinations. Finally he reached his northmost latitude of 81°5' near Spitsbergen and returned.From 1869 to 1870 he was captain of the "Germania" and the leader of another expedition to Greenland and to the
Arctic Sea which intended to penetrate into the Arctic central region. It was equipped with the propellersteamboat "Germania" and the sailing ship "Hansa" under captainPaul Friedrich Hegemann . Six scientists joined the expedition: astronomers and physicistsKarl Nikolai Jensen Börgen andRalph Copeland , zoologist, botanist and physicianAdolf Pansch , and surveyorJulius von Payer . On the "Hansa" travelled physician and zoologistR. Buchholz andgeologist Gustav Carl Laube .The expedition left
Bremerhaven onJune 15 1869 . Already onJuly 20 both ships were separated. The "Hansa" was crushed by the ice onOctober 19 1869 and the crew saved itself on an ice floe. Meanwhile the "Germania" reachedSabine Island onAugust 5 1869 . From there the task of mapping out of the coast between 73° and 77° northern latitude was undertaken by taking measurements from the ship or using sleighs and whalers. This work was a continuation ofEdward Sabine 's 1823 expedition. Trying to reach theNorth pole , the "Germania" reached its northernmost latitude 75°30"N onAugust 14 northeast ofShannon Island , where they had to return on account of lack of leads in the ice. Payer carried out the mapping of Shannon island while the astronomers took latitude measurements on it. A wintering camp was established at Sabine island fromAugust 27 1869 toJuly 22 1870 . Advancing inland using sleighs, the islands and coast of Greenland were mapped. Further investigations were carried out that provide an insight into the magnitude of Greenland's mountains and glaciers. However, the actual highlight and most considerable geographical achievement of the expedition was the discovery and investigation ofKaiser-Franz-Joseph-Fjord .Later work
After finishing the expeditions Koldewey worked as a writer and took part in scientific publications. Since 1871 he worked at the German naval observatory in
Hamburg , whose Nautical Instruments department he took over in 1875. OnJuly 31 1905 he retired as an admiralty's director. One of his nephews,Robert Koldewey (1855-1925), became a famous archaeologist and architecture historian.Posthumous honors
Places named after Carl Koldewey:
*Koldewey-Station , a German research station inNy-Ålesund onSpitsbergen . It is run by the Alfred-Wegener Institute.
*Koldewey Island (Остров кольдевея) inFranz-Joseph-Land , Russian Arctic.ee also
*
German North Polar Expedition External links
"All links are in German."
*
* [http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/AWI/geschichte/koldewey-d.html Biography at the Alfred-Wegener Institute]
* [http://www.polarfahrt.de/ Koldeweys Incidents during the 2. German North pole expedition (1869/70)]
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