Göttingen scientist is considered the “father of geophysics”

Today, it is common knowledge that the earth has a shell structure in the outer and inner core, coat and crust. But around 1900 this was completely new territory. Emil Wiechert (1861-1928), who had been the world’s first professor of geophysics in Göttingen since 1898, was a pioneer in the study of the Earth’s interior. In commemoration of the extraordinary achievements of the “father of geophysics”, especially in the field of seismic research, the association Wiechert’sche Erdbebenwarte Göttingen e.V. will inaugurate a memorial stone and commemorative plaque on 15 November 2017. This comes – as well as the idea for the project – from Göttingen geologist and games inventor Reinhold Wittig.

The blackboard shows schematically the course of earthquake propagating space waves and shows that our planet is composed of inner and outer core, mantle and crust. The knowledge of the inner structure of the earth Wiechert procured with the help of seismology. This doctrine of earthquakes and the propagation of seismic waves, as a branch of geophysics, is the most important method for exploring the inner structure of the earth.

The memorial stone with the tablet is located in Göttingen in the upper area of ​​Herzberger Landstraße next to the “Wiechert-Eiche”, which was planted there in 2007. “According to the geological map, the site is located exactly on the edge of the Leinetalgraben,” says Wittig. “In its formation in primeval times, there must already have been smaller earthquakes, as we still know them along the Rhine rift today”. In addition, the memorial stone joins the Göttinger Planetenweg – also a realized idea of ​​Wittig – which leads from the Goetheallee to the Hainberg.

“With the memorial stone and the commemorative plaque Emil Wiechert finds a visible public space and thus enriches the Göttingen history of science”, explains Wolfgang Brunk, chairman of the association Wiechert’sche Erdbebenwarte. The club has enjoyed great popularity for many years with its numerous tours through the grounds of the historic earthquake warden – far beyond the boundaries of the university city.

“Far customer brings you the swaying rock: interpret the signs!”

(Panel message above the entrance of the Old Earthquake House)

Background

Emil Wiechert (1861-1928) was a well-known physicist who came to Göttingen in 1897. In 1898 he received the call to the world’s first chair of geophysics. After completion of the newly established Institute for Geophysics on the Hainberg above Göttingen Wiechert began in 1901 with the construction of the Wiechert earthquake waiting there still in operation. As director of the new institute it was then his strong inclination to seismology that determined the main area of ​​work of the institute and quickly gave it world renown. With his “Theory of Automatic Seismographs”, Wiechert laid the foundations for the construction and understanding of the operation of his seismographs, which still record the “distant customer” (so Wiechert) in the “Old Earthquake House” on the grounds of the institute Mathematician G. Herglotz called “Wiechert-Herglotz-method” it became possible to develop the structure of the earth’s interior from the seismograms on the earth’s surface.