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Günter Dietrich (1911-1972)
Professor of Oceanography at Kiel University, 1959 - 1972
Director of the “Institut für Meereskunde” of Kiel University, 1959 – 1968
Günter Dietrich was born in Berlin on November 15, 1911. Following studies of oceanography, meteorology, mathematics, physics and geography, he obtained his doctorate at Berlin University in 1935. He first worked in the “Institut für Meereskunde” in Berlin which at that time was the leading marine research institute in Germany. Here he met distinguished scientists such as Albert Defant (1884-1974) and Georg Wüst (1890-1977) and gained experience in sea-going research activities.
During World War II he had to serve at the naval observatory in Wilhelmshaven and later in Greifswald, often as observer at sea. He obtained his habilitation for teaching in geophysics and oceanography at Berlin University in 1943. His marine research work started again in 1950 when he joined the German Hydrographic Office in Hamburg. During his time in Hamburg he published the first edition of the book “Allgemeine Meereskunde”, together with the marine chemist Kurt Kalle, which became a standard textbook. The second edition, with the additional authors Wolfgang Krauß and Gerold Siedler, remained the most important German-language textbook of marine research until the nineties. Günter Dietrich had just finished his text before he died in 1972.
Director of the "Institut für Meereskunde" (IfM)
In 1959 Günter Dietrich succeeded Georg Wüst as Professor at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel and as director of the “Institut für Meereskunde”. Georg Wüst had made a fresh start in 1946 to rebuild the institute in Kiel, Günter Dietrich strengthened the orientation towards the open ocean and the deep sea, following the tradition of the former Berlin institute. He also guided German researchers back into the international community of marine research. Work carried out during the “Polar Front Survey” of the International Geophysical Year was an important contribution to this international project. But the most essential step was the commissioning of the deep-sea research vessel “Meteor” and the immediate participation of the ship in the “International Indian Ocean Expedition” in 1964/65. Günter Dietrich’s contribution in achieving the construction of the new ship can hardly be overestimated. He helped in convincing funding institutions, developing the concept of the ship and coordinating the cruises. A close collaboration existed with the German Hydrographic Office (DHI, now “Bundesanstalt für Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie“) which also operated the new “Meteor“ over a long period of time.
Under Dietrich’s leadership the “Institut für Meereskunde” quickly developed into the largest multidisciplinary German research and teaching institute for basic marine research of its time. It grew from 15 employees at the start of Dietrich tenure to 124 when he transferred the directorship to his successor. Departments of Meteorology, Theoretical Oceanography, Planktology, Marine Physics and Marine Chemistry were added. The marine curricula were extended. Education at Kiel University ranked first place in Germany for a whole generation of marine scientists. Finally he ensured the transition into an institute of the “Blue List” (later Leibniz Association) with ten research departments and a directorship that rotated among the departmental heads. This development ensured improved joint funding by federal and state governments.
Scientific Focus
Until the end of his life Günter Dietrich remained a very active and inspiring scientist, always open to interdisciplinary cooperation. At the start of his work in marine science he submitted a doctoral thesis on the Agulhas Current whose results are still considered a landmark today. In his thesis for the habilitation he analyzed tides. Over many years his maps of global tides were used by colleagues as a basis for their own work. He dealt with the hydrography of the North and Baltic Seas. In later years the North Atlantic moved into center stage, the Polar front, the Greenland-Scotland overflow, and also seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean. He was an oceanographer who had a strong basis in geography, following traditions established by Otto Krümmel (1854-1912), Gerhard Schott (1866-1961) and Georg Wüst. During his last years, however, physical oceanography did not focus on large-scale description, but rather on process-oriented research. This focus changed during the decades following his death due to the need for understanding the role of the ocean in climate variability. Günter Dietrich would have certainly enjoyed the returning interest in large scale phenomena and the global ocean.
Publications by Günter Dietrich
- Atlas zur Ozeanographie
Dietrich, G. und J. Ulrich
Meyers Großer Physischer Weltatlas 7
Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim, 75 S., 1968. - Atlas of the hydrography of the northern North Atlantic Ocean
ICES Copenhagen, 140 S., 1970. - Allgemeine Meereskunde
Dietrich, G., Kalle, K., Krauss, W. und G. Siedler
3. Auflage, 593 S., Borntraeger, Berlin-Stuttgart, 1975. - More Publications by Günter Dietrich in the catalogue of the GEOMAR library
Publications about über Günter Dietrich
- Revival of Oceanography in Germany
McElheny, V. K.
Science, Vol. 146, 45 – 48, 1964
(English, article in the Science archive) - In memoriam Günter Dietrich 1911-1972
Roll, H. U., Meteor“ Forschungsergebnisse, Reihe A, Nr. 12, V – X, Borntraeger, Berlin, 1973 (German, English) (article in OceanRep) - Günther Dietrich 15.11.1911-2.10.1972.
Böhnecke, G. und A. Bückmann. Berichte der Deutschen Wissenschaftlichen Kommission für Meeresforschung 22:
463-471, 1973 (German/English) - Günter Dietrich 15 November 1911-2 October 1972
Lee, A. J., J. Cons. int. Explor. Mer, 36(1): 4-6 November 1974. - Bibliographie Günter Dietrich
Siedler, G. und R. Bröcker, Meteor Forschungsergebnisse, Reihe A, Nr. 21, 71 - 74, Borntraeger, Berlin, 1980
(German with English abstract) - Günter Dietrichs Kieler Jahre (1959 - 1972)
Krauss, W., Christiana Albertina, 24 (N. F.), 43 - 54, Wachholtz,
Neumünster, 1987
(German) (article in OceanRep)
