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The history of the Central Institute for Meteorology and GeodynamicsBy Imperial Resolution of the 23 of June 1851, Emperor Franz Joseph authorised the establishment of "a central institute for meteorological and magnetic observations", to become the Central Institute of Meteorology and Geomagnetism, which can be traced back to an initiative of the Austrian Academy of Science. In 1848, this had already addressed a request to Karl Kreil, director of the Prague Astronomical Observatory and member of the academy, to develop a meteorological observation system for the Austrian Empire.Karl Kreil (1798-1862) was the first director of the newly founded Central Institute and simultaneously professor of Physics of the Earth at the University of Vienna. This union of persons, between director on the one hand and university lecturer on the other, has been maintained up to the present day and continuously affected scientific research at the Institute. Kreil established a meteorological observation system for the entire territory of the Austrian Empire, and carried out the first national geomagnetic survey for the same. The Institute began issuing daily weather charts in 1865. In 1872, the Central Institute moved to its new and final quarters, built by Heinrich Ferstel on the 'Hohe Warte' grounds in Döbling, Vienna. A year later, in 1873, the Central Institute organised the first international meteorological congress in Vienna, where the International Meteorological Organisation (IMO) was founded as predecessor to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The issue of daily telegraphic weather reports, with a synoptic chart and forecast for the following day, was undertaken from 1877. The new weather report contained the morning observations from 60 stations throughout Europe, 24 of them in Austria. With the decree of 23 February 1904, the entire seismic service for Austria was transferred to the Institute, which also resulted in a change of name to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics. Outstanding scientists followed Kreil in his office as director, among them Julius Hann (1839-1921) and Felix Maria Exner (1876-1930). When Hann's importance in the world of meteorology was worldwide - he compiled the comprehensive 'Textbook of Meteorology' and in his era people began to speak of a 'School of Austrian Meteorology' - then by Exner, we are reminded of a great theoretician and his outstanding work 'Dynamic Meteorology'. Among many others who worked at the Institute were researchers like Max Margules (1856-1920), co-founder of theoretical meteorology, and Victor Conrad (1876-1962), who discovered a discontinuity in the earth's crust, named after him. Only once was the tradition of the Central Institute interrupted: after the annexation of Austria to the German Third Reich the climate and weather service was transferred to Berlin and subjugated to the Reich Weather Service; the Central Institute in Vienna was turned into a research centre. After the Second World War, the original status was restored and there was considerable expansion of premises and personnel, which was also reflected in numerous scientific research successes. In 1957, a house on an adjacent estate was purchased and adapted for office use: between 1967 and 1973, in two stages, a radar station, balloon filling hangar and a new office building were erected on the grounds of the Central Institute. The new office building accommodates, amongst other things, one of the largest technical libraries of meteorology and geophysics. Today, as a partially incorporated federal establishment, the Central Institute is a modern service provider, with regional offices for Salzburg and Upper Austria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, and Styria. Let us just mention only a few of its activities here. The synoptic department is, with the help of modern technology, responsible for the daily forecast service. The geophysical department carries out the earthquake and geomagnetic service. The climatic department prepares climatic statistics and charts from the data provided by the Austrian monitoring network. The technical department maintains this meteorological monitoring network, consisting of semi-automatic weather sampling (TAWES) and climate (TAKLIS) stations. The environmental meteorology department investigates the dispersal of pollutants in the atmosphere, and in crises, (such as radioactive releases into the atmosphere) delivers warnings directly to the Federal Warning Centre. The Electronic Data Processing department is equipped with the latest hardware to cope with the extensive computer-controlled processes. special thanks to Dr. Herbert Gmoser
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