Background

Heinrich Wilhelm Dove was born on October 6, 1803, in Liegnitz, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland). The son of Wilhelm Benjamin Dove and the former Maria Susanne Sophie Brückner, Dove belonged to a prosperous family of apothecaries and merchants in Liegnitz.

Education

Dove's delicate health led him to choose an academic career instead of following the family profession. He studied history, philosophy, and the natural sciences at the University of Breslau (now the University of Wrocław in Poland) from 1821 until 1824. His doctoral thesis, on climatology, was presented in 1826 to the University of Königsberg.

Career

Dove lectured at the University of Königsberg until 1829, when he went to Berlin. He became a professor there in 1844.

His great interest in education was shown when, in 1837-1849, he edited the Repertorium der Physik, for which he wrote many of the articles himself: on the progress of physics, meteorology, a theory of heat, optics, magnetism, and electricity.

Dove’s principal interest was meteorology. A great step forward in that field had been the extension, in 1780, of a network of thirty-nine observation stations to cover many European countries. This had been organized by the Societas Meteorológica Palatina in Mannheim, Germany, which had demanded uniformity in the mounting and operation of the standard instruments.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, stations were established in Russia and North America, and Humboldt used their observations to draw maps indicating the distribution of temperature throughout the areas covered. This new field, climatology, also interested Dove, who used the many observations to draw maps showing the monthly mean distribution of heat at the earth’s surface. These maps demonstrated how the winds, landmasses, and seas influenced heat distribution.

H. W. Brandes emphasized that not only climate but other variables were important in meteorology. In Breslau, Dove studied meteorology with Brandes, and after thorough study of Brandes’ meteorological data he formulated his “Drehungsgesetz” (“law of rotation”) (1827), which states that the order of meteorological phenomena at a single place on the earth’s surface corresponds to what would happen if there were great whirligigs rotating clockwise in the atmosphere. With a southwest wind, the temperature rises, and it rains. The wind then moves to the west, the temperature falls, and the barometer rises. When the wind is northeast, the barometric pressure is at a maximum and the temperature at a minimum. Then the pressure begins to fall until the wind again blows from the southwest.

Further progress occurred in 1857, when Buys Ballot, one of Dove’s students, found that winds arise because of differences in atmospheric pressure. Throughout his life, Dove defended his own law, which, in contrast with Buys Ballot’s, was founded on the assumption that wind is the primary factor by which weather phenomena should be explained.

Dove was interested in expanding the international collaboration between meteorological institutions that had started with the establishment of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina. He assembled meteorologists from several European countries in Geneva in 1863, but it was not until 1873, with the first international meteorology meeting in Leipzig - in which Dove took no part - that the collaboration was expanded to any great extent.

Dove was a director of the Prussian Institute of Meteorology from its founding in 1849, and he was three times elected vice-chancellor of the University of Berlin.

Achievements

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  Heinrich Wilhelm Dove is remembered as a distinguished scientist who contributed greatly to physics centered on observations of the earth’s magnetism; polarization phenomena, especially the optical properties of rock crystals; and induced electricity. He also had an important influence over the science of meteorology and was considered by some to be a pioneer in this field.
  
  In 1850 and 1853 Dove received the Copley Medal for his work on the distribution of heat over the surface of the Earth. Later he received the Pour le mérite Order for Sciences and Arts. In 1869 he was also awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.
  
  Dove Bay in Greenland is named after him.
  
  The crater Dove on the Moon is named after him.
  
  In Optics, the Dove prism is named for him.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Meteorologische Untersuchungen 1837
  • Repertorium Der Physik
  • Darstellung der Farbenlehre und optische Studien 1853
  • Über Eiszeit, Föhn Und Scirocco
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde 1866
  • Die Natur in den Begriff übersetzen 2005
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 2 1866
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 3 1866
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 4 1866
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 6 1866
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 7 1866
  • Der kreislauf des wassers auf der erde, Volume 9 1866
  • Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Erdkunde, dritter Band 1854
  • Darstellung Der Wärme-erscheinungen Durch Fünftägige Mittel Von 1782 Bis 1855 1856
  • Klimatologische Beitrage 1857
  • Die Witterungsgeschichte Des Letzten Jahrezehnts 1840-1850 1853
  • Das Gesetz der Stürme in seiner Beziehung zu den allgemeinen Bewegungen der Atmosphäre, Zweite Auflage 1861
  • Repertorium Der Physik
  • Repertorium Der Physik

Membership

Dove was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1837; Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society in 1850; Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1861; and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

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  Royal Society , United Kingdom

  1850

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  German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , Germany

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  Russian Academy of Sciences , Russian Federation

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  American Academy of Arts and Sciences , United States

• 

  Prussian Academy of Sciences , Prussia

  1837

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  Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences , Russian Federation

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  Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences , The Netherlands

  1861

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  Royal Society of Edinburgh , United Kingdom

Personality

Dove devoted much of his time to lecturing, becoming a great popular success. Mainly an experimental physicist, he improved and devised many scientific instruments and illustrated his lectures with elegant experiments.

Dove was an open-minded, communicative person who was interested not only in science but also in politics, history, and philosophy.

Interests

• politics, history, philosophy

Connections

On October 26, 1830, Dove married Franziska Adelaide Luise Etzel.

Father:

Wilhelm Benjamin Dove

Mother:

Maria Susanne Sophie Brückner

Spouse:

Franziska Adelaide Luise Etzel

Student:

Christophorus Henricus Diedericus Buys Ballot

References

• Die Grossen Deutschen
  1937