Sebastian Finsterwalder
| Sebastian Finsterwalder | |
|---|---|
Professor Sebastian Finsterwalder. Photographer unknown.
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| Born |
4 October 1862 Rosenheim, Germany |
| Died | 4 December 1951 (aged 89) Munich, Germany |
| Residence | Munich, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Mathematics, geometry, surveying, topography, aerodynamics and geology |
| Institutions | Technical University of Munich |
| Alma mater | University of Tübingen |
| Known for |
photogrammetry Finsterwaldersche fields method aerodynamics |
| Notable awards | Helmert commemorative medallion for excellence by the German Association of Surveying |
| Spouse | Franziska Mallepell (d. 1953) (m. 1892) |
| Children | Richard Finsterwalder (1899-1963), Professor at the Technical University in Hanover and Munich, Ulrich Finsterwalder (1897-1988), a civil engineer. |
Sebastian Finsterwalder (4 October 1862 – 4 December 1951) was a German mathematician and glaciologist. Acknowledged as the "father of glacier photogrammetry"; he pioneered the use of repeat photography as a temporal surveying instrument in measurement of the geology and structure of the Alps and their glacier flows. The measurement techniques he developed and the data he produced are still in use to discover evidence for climate change.
Sebastian Finsterwalder was born 4 October 1862 in Rosenheim, son of Joh. Nepomuk Finsterwalder, a master baker from Lehrers-S aus Antdorf, Upper Bavaria, and Anna Amann of Rosenheim. He died 4 December 1951 in Munich). He was a Bavarian mathematician and surveyor. In 1892 he married Franziska Mallepell (d. 1953) from Brixen, South Tyrol. Their two sons worked in similar fields; Richard Finsterwalder (1899-1963), Professor at the Technical University in Hanover and Munich, and Ulrich Finsterwalder (1897-1988), a civil engineer.
A keen mountaineer, Finsterwalder became interested, through the influence of his friend E. Richter, in alpine fossils as indicators of the geology and structure of the Alps and their glaciers. His desire for accurate, but also less costly, motion measurements on glaciers led him to glaciological applications of photogrammetry in geodesy.
In 1886. aged 24, he received his doctorate from the University of Tübingen, under the guidance of the algebraic geometer Alexander von Brill. Finsterwalder observed that Rudolf Sturm's analysis of the "homography problem" (1869) can be used to solve the problem of 3D-reconstruction using point matches in two images; which is the mathematical foundation of photogrammetry.
Finsterwalder pioneered geodetic surveys in the high mountains. At the age of 27 years he conducted a first glacier mapping project at Vernagtferner in the Ötztal Alps, Austria.
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