scostep 2010 (stp12) - Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik an der ...

STP12 Abstracts
Berlin, 12 - 16 July 2010
SCOSTEP Symposium 2010
Berlin and the Stratosphere: Why is Berlin the place for STP-12?
Labitzke Karin
Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität Berlin
Berlin is the "Capital for Science" and this year we celebrate 350 years of the Royal Library
and 300 years of the Charité ( central hospital). Also, 300 years ago Leibniz founded the
"Academy of Sciences", and Wilhelm von Humboldt initiated 100 years later the "Berliner
Universität" which is named today "Humboldt Universität".
In this short historical review we try to show which part Meteorology and Aerology were
playing during these active times. For example: the discovery of noctilucent clouds in 1885 by
Otto Jesse; the discovery of the stratosphere in 1901, simultaneously by two carefully
working scientists, Richard Assmann and L.Teisserenc de Bort; the unexpected westerlies in
the equatorial lower stratosphere in 1908, discovered by Arthur Berson, which were against
the present conceptions at that time; and about the discovery of the "Major Midwinter
Warmings" by Richard Scherhag in 1952, which later led to the discovery of the influence of
the 11-year solar cycle in the stratosphere, in 1987.