Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In this Ritter Memorial Fellowship lecture presentation recorded April 21, 2025, Katrin Kleemann of the the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven analyzes the emergence of the German Maritime Observatory, which was founded in Hamburg in 1875 and existed until 1945.
The Ritter Memorial Fellowship is an international research fellowship that encourages scholarship in the history of marine science. This award is presented biennially by Scripps Institution of Oceanography to historians, scientists, or other scholars whose research enlarges and deepens the understanding of the history of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences.
In the mid-19th century, maritime institutes were founded in the United States, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Australia, all with a mission to make shipping safer and faster by producing sailing recommendations for ships. In Germany, Georg Neumayer and Wilhelm von Freeden made efforts to establish a similar institution as early as the 1850s. The political patchwork that was Germany made the endeavor challenging and it was not until the mid-1870s that a state-funded institution that recommended sailing routes, gathered data to improve shipping safety and efficiency, and promoted maritime knowledge came to be. The data came from taking part in maritime research expeditions, commissioning observations aboard ships, and even messages found in bottles.
About Katrin Kleeman: katrinkleemann.com
About the Ritter Memorial Fellowship: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/about/awards/ritter
In this Ritter Memorial Fellowship lecture presentation recorded April 21, 2025, Katrin Kleemann of the the German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven analyzes the emergence of the German Maritime Observatory, which was founded in Hamburg in 1875 and existed until 1945.
The Ritter Memorial Fellowship is an international research fellowship that encourages scholarship in the history of marine science. This award is presented biennially by Scripps Institution of Oceanography to historians, scientists, or other scholars whose research enlarges and deepens the understanding of the history of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences.
In the mid-19th century, maritime institutes were founded in the United States, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Australia, all with a mission to make shipping safer and faster by producing sailing recommendations for ships. In Germany, Georg Neumayer and Wilhelm von Freeden made efforts to establish a similar institution as early as the 1850s. The political patchwork that was Germany made the endeavor challenging and it was not until the mid-1870s that a state-funded institution that recommended sailing routes, gathered data to improve shipping safety and efficiency, and promoted maritime knowledge came to be. The data came from taking part in maritime research expeditions, commissioning observations aboard ships, and even messages found in bottles.
About Katrin Kleeman: katrinkleemann.com
About the Ritter Memorial Fellowship: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/about/awards/ritter
