Hermann Flohn (19 February 1912 – 23 June 1997) was a

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

. Flohn was professor at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and head of the department at the Institute of Meteorology of Bonn University. He produced about 360 publications. Flohn was member in numerous scientific societies such as the Bavarian Academy, the

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

, and the

Royal Academy of Belgium The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association that promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

Life

Flohn was born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, he studied

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

, and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

at the universities of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. Having obtained his doctorate in 1934, he accepted a position at the newly established German Meteorological Service (''Reichswetterdienst''). From 1941 he was employed at the meteorological service of the Luftwaffe High Command. In 1941 Flohn published the first German article concerning anthropogenic

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Having returned to the ''Deutscher Wetterdienst'' after the war, Flohn from 1950 helped develop the theory of

atmospheric circulation Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of Atmosphere of Earth, air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth. The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies fro ...

. Flohn was one of the first and leading global climate change researchers. From 1961 he worked as a lecturer at the

. In 1977 Flohn retired, he died in 1997 in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, aged 85.

Awards

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(''Großes Verdienstkreuz''), 1973 * International Meteorological Organization Prize, 1986 International Meteorological Organization Prize
/ref> *

Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia () is a civil Order (honour), order of merit, of the Germany, German States of Germany, State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded on 11 March 1986. It is ...

, 1993

Selected works

* Flohn H. 1941: ''Die Tätigkeit des Menschen als Klimafaktor.'' Z. f. Erdkunde, 9, 13-22.
''Life on a Warmer Earth--Possible Climatic Consequences of Man-Made Global Warming''
1981.
''Possible Climatic Consequences of a Man-Made Global Warming''
1980. * Flohn H. 1954: ''Witterung und Klima in Mitteleuropa,'' 2. Auflage. Forschungen zur Deutschen Landeskunde, 78, S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart, S. 214. * Flohn H. 1968: ''Contributions to a Meteorology of the Tibetan Highlands.'' In: Atmospheric Science Paper 130, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 120 p. * Flohn H. 1968: ''Le temps et le climat.'' L´Univ. Connaissances, Hachette, Paris. * Flohn H. 1968: ''Clima y tiempo.'' Biblioteca para el Hombre Actual, Ediciones Guadarrama, Madrid. * Flohn H. 1969: ''Climate and Weather.'' World Univ. Library, McGraw-Hill, New York. * Flohn H. 1969: ''Local Wind Systems.'' In: World Survey of Climatology, Vol. 2, General Climatology 2, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 139-171. * Flohn H. 1971: ''Arbeiten zur allgemeinen Klimatologie.'' 315 S. Wiss. Buchges., Darmstadt. * Flohn H., Fantechi R. 1984: ''The Climate of Europe: Past, Present and Future.'' D. Reidel Publ. Comp., Dordrecht. * Flohn H. 1985: ''Das Problem der Klimaänderungen in Vergangenheit und Zukunft.'' Erträge der Forschung, Bd. 220, Wiss. Buchges., Darmstadt. * Flohn H. 1977: ''Climate and Energy: A Scenario to a 21st Century Problem.'' Climatic Change, 1, 5-20 * Flohn H. 1979: ''Climatology as a Geophysical Science.'' Climate Monitor, Special Edition, March 1979, Hubert Lamb - Professor Emeritus, 10-18. (Gewidmet H. Lamb zum 65. Geburtstag) * Flohn H. 1979: ''Summary Review and Some Thoughts on Future Climatic Evolutions.'' In: NES Colleque International: Evolution des Atmosohères Planetaires et Climatologie de la Terre, Nice 16-20 Oct. 1978, 569-574. * Flohn H. 1979: ''Possible Climatic Consequences of a Man-Made Global Warming.'' In:Working Paper, Internat. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, WP 79-86 (XI + 103 p). (auch in Internat. Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, RR-80-30, Dec. 1980) * Flohn H. 1980: ''Man's Increasing Impact on Climate: Atmospheric Processes.'' In: N. Polunin (Ed.): Growth without ecodisaster? Proc. 2nd Intern. Conf. Environmental Future. Reykjavik, June 1977, MacMillan Press, London, 31-44. (Diskussion 45-59) * Flohn H. 1980: ''Possible Climatic Consequences of a Man-made Global Warming.'' In: R. Kavanagh (Ed.): Energy System Analysis. Proc. Intern. Conf. Dublin, 9-11 Oct. 1979, D. Reidel Publ. Comp., Dordrecht, 558-568. (1981: ''Life on a Warmer Earth, Possible Climatic Consequences of Man-made Global Warming.'' Executive Report 3, based on research by H. Flohn, Intern. Inst. for Applied System Analysis IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, pp. 59.)

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20040921064201/http://www.meteo.uni-bonn.de/deutsch/mflohn/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Flohn, Hermann 1912 births 1997 deaths Academic staff of the University of Bonn Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Cothenius Medal