Julius Bartels

Julius Bartels (born August 17, 1899, Magdeburg; died March 6, 1964) was a German geophysicist and statistician.

He was awarded his Ph.D. from Göttingen in 1923, then worked at the Potsdam magnetic observatory as a post-doctorate. In 1928 he was named professor at Eberswalde, teaching meteorology. He becamefull professor at Berlin University in 1936, and director of the Potsdam Geophysical Institute. From 1931 until the second year of World War II he was also a research associate at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He collaborated with Sydney Chapman to publish the two-volume work "Geomagnetism", a definitive reference on geophysics.

Following the war in 1946 he became professor in Göttingen. He was also a director at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of the Stratosphere between 1955 and 1964. From 1954 until 1957 he served as president of the IAGA. Between 1960 and 1963 he was vice-president of the IUGG.

Among his contributions was the development of the "Kp" Index, and he suggested the existence of "M-regions" on the Sun that resulted in geomagnetic activity. These coronal holes were later confirmed by the Skylab mission. Finally he also helped initiate the International Geophysical Year, which took place in 1957.

Awards and honors

* The "Julius Bartels Medal" of the Solar-Terrestrial Sciences department, European Geosciences Union, was named in his honor.
* Bartels crater on the Moon was named after him.

External links

* [http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb2/pb23/niemegk/kp_index/bartels.html Julius Bartels (1899-1964)]
* [http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/egs/bartels.htm Julius Bartels] at the European Geophysical Society.
* [http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/egs/award6m.htm Julius Bartels Medal]