Person

Loewe, Fritz Philipp (1895 - 1974)

Born
11 March 1895
Schöneberg, Germany
Died
27 March 1974
Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Meteorologist and Explorer

Summary

Fritz Philipp Loewe arrived in Australia in 1937 and established Australia's first university Department of Meteorology (University of Melbourne). Prior to this he had spent many years working in England and in Europe. Loewe initially undertook legal studies at the University of Grenoble, but this was interrupted for four years during World War I when he worked as a Radio operator in an artillery unit. On his return from the war he transferred to the University of Berlin to study terrestrial physical sciences, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in geography and physics in 1924. From 1922 Loewe was appointed to a number of positions including Scientific Assistant at the Potsdam Meteorological Observatory (1922), Head of Research Flights of the Prussian Meteorological Service (1925) and Personal Assistant to Wegener on the German Greenland Expedition (1930-1931). During 1933 and 1934 Loewe was subjected to much discrimination because he was Jewish and after being sacked from the German Meteorological Service in 1934 fled to the United Kingdom where he worked as a Meteorologist at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK. In 1937 Raymond Priestley, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, asked Fritz Loewe to come to the University and establish university's Department of Meteorology. He remained at the University of Melbourne until his retirement in 1959.

Details

Chronology

1914 - 1918
Career position - Wireless operator in the German Army
1921
Career position - Tidal current surveys in Germany
1922 - c. 1924
Career position - Scientific Assistant at the Potsdam Meteorological Observatory
1924
Career position - Cosmic radiation research in Switzerland
1924
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) completed at the University of Berlin
1925
Career position - Atlantic expedition on the Meteor
1925 - c. 1928
Career position - Head of Research Flights of the Prussian Meteorological Service
1926
Career position - Heat balance studies on the Grossen Aletschgletscher
1929
Career position - Member of the Wegener expedition to Greenland ice cap
1930 - 1931
Career position - Personal Assistant to Wegener on the German Greenland Expedition
1934
Life event - Fled Germany to England
1934 - 1937
Career position - Meteorologist at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK
1937
Life event - Migrated to Australia (Melbourne)
1937 - 1960
Career position - First Lecturer in Meteorology at the University of Melbourne
1947
Career position - Member of the failed Wyatt Earp expedition to Antarctica
1950 - 1951
Career position - Member of the French lead expedition to Antarctica on the Commandant Charcot
1958
Career position - UNESCO expert to Pakistan where he established a meteorological training school

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Fritz Loewe - Records, 1913 - 1971; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Loewe, F., Duststorms in Australia (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1943), 16 pp. Details
  • Loewe, Fritz, Sixty years with ice (Parkville, Vic.: University of Melbourne, Meteorology Department, 1976), 12 pp. Details
  • Radok, Uwe, UNIMET - the Meteorological Department of the University of Melbourne 1937-1990 (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Meteorology Section, School of Earth Sciences, 1993), 50 pp. Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • 'Obituary: Fritz Loewe', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 22 (1) (1974), 21-23. Details
  • Anderson, Fay, 'Fritz Loewe', Australasian Science, 20 (1) (1999), 46. Details
  • Hart, Terry, 'Fritz Loewe: a connection between Australian meteorology and plate tectonics', BAMOS: bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 34 (1) (2021), 18-9. Details
  • Loewe, F., 'Alfred Wegener - His Life and Work', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 18 (4) (1970), 177-190. Details
  • Loewe, F., 'The first series of meteorological observations in Australia', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 18 (1) (1970), 39-42. Details
  • Schwerdtfeger, P., 'Obituary: Fritz Loewe', Journal of Glaciology, 14 (70) (1975), 191-3. Details
  • Voss, Jutta, 'Johannes Georgi und Fritz Loewe: Zwei Polarforscherschicksale nach 'Eismitte'. Aus ihrem Briefwechsel 1929-1971 sowie die gesammelten Schriftenverzeichnisse von J. Georgi und F. Loewe', Polarforschung, 62 (1992), 151-161. Details
  • Wilcock, A. A., 'Fritz Loewe 1895-1974', Australian Geographer, 13 (5) (1977), 306-310. Details
  • Zillman, John W., 'The remarkable German contribution to Australian meteorology', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 127 (1) (2015), 110-6, https://doi.org/10.1071/RS15013. Details

Resources

See also

McCarthy, G.J.

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