Obituary: Karl Rawer (1913–2018)

Friedrich Robert Helmert died in Potsdam in 1917. He was, for over 30 years, director of the Royal Prussian Geodetic Institute and of the Central Bureau of the Internationale Erdmessung, today's IAG. He dedicated his life and his scientific career to the field of geodesy. His teachings on theoretical and physical geodesy were incorporated into university curricula around the world and hence into international endeavours to measure planet Earth.

Between 1880 and 1910 Elster and Geitel made important contributions to atmospheric electricity, in particular to precipitation electricity, the influence of solar radiation on the electric state of the atmosphere, the nature of charge carriers, and the ionization of air by radioactivity. They invented new instruments with unprecedented accuracy and reliability. A very modern concept was their attitude to undertake long-term measurements at various locations.

This paper traces my climatological career from the 1950s and that of my graduate students from the late 1960s that were formative in the evolution of climate science. A summary of my early training, teaching and research in the UK is followed by activities at the University of Colorado, Boulder from 1968. The history of the World Data Center for Glaciology/National Snow and Ice Data Center from 1977 is described, and climate-cryosphere and international initiatives.