Background
Hempel, Gotthilf was born on March 8, 1929 in Gottingen, Germany. Son of Johannes and Maria (Kolbe) Hempel.
director professor marine biologist
Hempel, Gotthilf was born on March 8, 1929 in Gottingen, Germany. Son of Johannes and Maria (Kolbe) Hempel.
Hempel studied biology and geology at the universities of Mainz and Heidelberg. In 1952 he gained his Doctor of Philosophy with a study on the energetics of grasshopper jumps from Heidelberg University.
He then went on to work as a scientific assistant at various research institutes in Wilhelmshaven, Helgoland, and Hamburg, where he habilitated with a thesis on the ecology of fry in 1963. Four years later, he became a professor at the University of Kiel at the Institute of Oceanography, where he remained director for the next 14 years. In 1981, he helped found the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven whereupon he became the institutions first director
In the same year, he also became director of the Institute for Polar Ecology at the University of Kiel.
In Bremerhaven, he initiated the construction of the polar research vessel Personal Financial Specialist Polarstern. In 1992, he became the first director of the then newly founded Center for Marine Tropical Ecology at the University of Bremen.
Hempel retired in 1994. He has been interested and active in research politics throughout his career.
He has been and is an active proponent of scientific collaboration and education initiatives in underdeveloped countries, and has advocated a more sustainable exploitation of natural resources.
Hempel is the editor of the journal Polar Biology, and he has also published several books He has had more than 70 doctoral candidates. From his time spent researching oceanological topics he has managed to spend over 1000 days aboard research vessels.
He was awarded the German Order of Merit (Grosses Verdienstkreuz) in 1993.
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]
From 1963 to 1967 he worked for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization and from 1990 to 1996 he was a member of the Wissenschaftsrat, the scientific advisory committee of Germany.
Married Irmtraut Schneider, September 1, 1952. Children: Christoph, Peter.