Georg von Neumayer
- Schooling
- Scientific apprenticeship years
- Seafaring years
- Australia
- Main activities in Germany
- South Polar research
- Deutsche Seewarte
Schooling
Scientific apprenticeship years
- Assistant at the Institute of Physics at the University of Munich
- Graduation with the philosophical doctoral examination at the University of Munich
- Training in geomagnetism under Dr. Lamont at the Royal Observatory Bogenhausen near Munich
- Neumayer begins to take an interest in seafaring – inspired by the publications of the national economist Friedrich List
- His application for admission to practical maritime training in the German fleet was rejected (probably because he was too old at the age of 22)
Simultaneously studies wind and ocean currents, inspired by the American hydrographer Matthew Fontaine Maury. Neumayer recognises their significance for practical seafaring.
Seafaring years
Australia
- Journey as a sailor on the Hamburg bark REIHERSTIEG to Australia, where the entire crew, except the officers and Neumayer, deserts the ship due to newly discovered goldfields in Victoria
- Neumayer uses his involuntary stay in Australia for geomagnetic observations
- Resigns from the REIHERSTIEG
- Visits his comrades in the goldfields (to get to know the geological conditions and to give navigation lessons to his comrades)
28 August 1853
- Neumayer promotes the establishment of a nautical and geomagnetic observatory in the scientific circles of Melbourne
1853-1854
- Returns onboard the SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS via London to Hamburg
June 1854
- Contact with Alexander von Humboldt who encourages him to continue with his plans
- Receives financial support from King Maximilian II of Bavaria for the procurement of instruments for the construction of a nautical observatory in Melbourne
1855-1856
- Returns to his homeland, the Bavarian Rhineland-Palatinate, to carry out geomagnetic studies for training purposes
- Further observations in Schleswig-Holstein
1857-1858
- Journey to Australia - the Hamburg shipping company Godeffroy gives Neumayer and his large luggage free passage on their ship LA ROCHELLE
- Construction of the Flagstaff Observatory in Melbourne begins
1859
- Takeover of the Observatory by the Colony of Victoria
- Neumayer appointed director of the magnetic survey of the Colony of Victoria
- At the same time he becomes a member of the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society in Melbourne
1862
- Undertakes several expeditions into the interior of the country, including crossing the source area of the Murray River
- Ascent of Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak of the Australian Alps
- Neumayer acts as the intellectual centre of the "German Association"; gives lectures on Antarctic research; obtains amnesty for many emigrated activists of the 1848 uprisings; is interested in the Leichhardt expedition
1864
- Neumayer requests release and returns to Europe on the Scottish clipper GARAWALT
Main activities in Germany
South Polar research
- Neumayer advocates the installation of meteorological and geomagnetic measuring stations in the Antarctic (originally such measuring stations were only to be installed in the Arctic by the International Polar Commission)
- In the dispute over the future direction of German polar research, the funding of Arctic or Antarctic research is discussed as well as the methodical procedures for carrying out expeditions or setting up permanent research stations
October 1879
- Meeting of the International Polar Commission under Neumayer's chairmanship at the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg (German naval observatory)
1895
- German Geographers' Day decides to appoint a committee to organise an Antarctic expedition
- Neumayer takes over chairmanship of this Antarctic expedition and collects private donations
1901
- Several nations simultaneously send out expeditions to explore Antarctica
1902
- First mention of the term "polar year" in Sebald B. Ehrhart's dissertation "Die Verteilung der Temperatur und des Luftdruckes auf der Erdoberfläche im Polarjahre 1882/1883" (The distribution of temperature and air pressure on the earth's surface in the polar year 1882/1883)
Deutsche Seewarte