Emmy Mercedes Todtmann (1888–1973) was a German glacial geologist whose research included the glaciers of Iceland and Spitzbergen. In Iceland, she conducted research on glacier sliding from the 1940s to the 1970s, which included times when it was unusual for women to conduct such pursuits.

Biography

Emmy Mercedes Todtmann was born on 29 March 1888 in Altona, Germany, to a wine vendor. She became a geology student in Freiburg following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and went on to finish her doctorate in 1923. After completing her studies, she worked in government research institutes in geology and soil sciences, which later became part of the State Geological Office in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany. She also taught geology at the Hamburg Adult Education Center for decades.

Glaciologist

During the 1930s, Todtmann took two trips to

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, Norway to explore the Ice Age monuments and compare them to the traces of the Ice Age shield, which extended south to northern Germany. Her next targets for research were Iceland's sliding glaciers, which she first visited in the summer of 1931 and continued during the summer of 1934. She explored the borders of

Vatnajökull Vatnajökull ( Icelandic pronunciation: , literally "Glacier of Lakes"; sometimes translated as Vatna Glacier in English) is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, and the second largest in area in Europe after the Severny Island i ...

glacier in Iceland, the

largest Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (or ...

and most voluminous

ice cap In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets. Description By definition, ice caps are not constrained by topogra ...

in Iceland. She stayed at the foot of the glacier to conduct her studies. The outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

forced her to pause her research. The Society of Friends of Iceland was revived in Hamburg in 1950 and Todtmann became head of the group. That same year, she visited the north side of Vatnajökull and conducted research on the glacial outlets of Eyjabakkajökull and Brúarjökull until 1956. The

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

published many of her results and photographs. She also took excursions to Algeria and then to Venezuela to study the Pleistocene glaciation traces of the Andean Cordillera at an altitude of 4,000 meters at the age of 70. Still, she returned to Iceland many times to keep measuring glacial morphological events at the edge of the ice. Her 1972 research trip was completed when she was 84, one year before she died.

Later years

She died in Hamburg, Germany, on 21 May 1973.

Selected works

* Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes. ''Über das Moränenamphitheater des Gardasees in Oberitalien''. Hansischer Gildenverlag Joachim Heitmann et Company, 1950. * Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes. "Eftirfarandi grein var sótt af Tímarit. is þann 8. desember 2022 klukkan 21: 25." ''Journal of Glaciology'' 2, no. 12 (1952): 82-93. * Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes. ''Am Rand des Eyjabakkagletschers, Sommer 1953''. 1953. * Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes. ''Übersicht über die Eisrandlagen in Kringilsárrani von 1890-1955''. 1955. * Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes. Gletscherforschungen auf Island (Vatnajökull). Germany: Cram, de Gruyter, 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todtmann, Emmy Mercedes 1888 births 1973 deaths Women geologists Women glaciologists German women geologists German glaciologists German geologists 20th-century German women scientists 20th-century German geologists 20th-century German women educators