Geography in Austria

Heinz FaßmannGeography in AustriaGesellschaft" was founded and still is Austria's most important scientific geographical journal 2 . . 3Simony laid the foundation for geography at university level in Austria.For about five decades he carried out research into the Alps in the fields of limnology, climatology, geomorphology and glaciology, especially in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut and the Dachstein area.After Simony had retired in 1885, two chairs were instituted in Vienna, one for "Physical Geography" and the other for "Historical and Cultural Geography".Albrecht Penck was appointed professor of physical geography, Wilhelm Toma schek professor of historical and cultural geography. 4Penck is considered the founder of geomorphology and research into the Ice Age.At the age of 24 (in 1882), he wrote his first voluminous book on "Die Vergletscherung der deutschen Alpen, ihre Ursachen, periodische Wiederkehr und ihr Einfluß auf die Bodengestaltung" (The Glaciation of the German Alps, its Causes, Periodicity and Influence on the Formation of Relief Forms).One year later he defended his habilitation thesis in Munich, and in 1885 he accepted the call to the chair for physical geography in Vienna.Here, Penck wrote his book on "Die Eiszeit in den Alpen" (The Alps in the Ice Age) -together with Eduard Brückner -and a textbook on systematic geomorphology.In this way he succeeded in establishing an all-comprising system of features on the earth's surface set apart from geological approaches.5 In 1906, Penck left the University of Vienna.E. Brückner succeeded to the chair of physical geography and continued to work in the same research field.His foci were the glaciation of the Alps, climatology and the Ice Age.Brückner held his chair at Vienna University for 21 years.After his death, Fritz Machatschek was appointed professor in 1928, and his successor was Johann Sölch, who had been professor in Innsbruck (1920-28) and Heidelberg (1928-35) before.6 8In 1877, the position of an extraordinary professor was established in Innsbruck and upgraded to a chair in 1880.The first professor to hold the chair was Franz von Wieser (1848-1923), who was educated as historian and was engaged in the history of cartography and the history of discovering the world 3 . 9Just before the turn of the century, the "Exportakademie" -that was to become the "Hochschule für Welthandel" in 1919 -was founded in Vienna in 1898.At first there was Geography in Austria