KREPS

AUSTRIA (see also List of Individuals)

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7.10.1905 Hardek/PL - 24.9.1982 Graz/A

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Harald Kreps graduated in 1928 from the Graz Technical University and then joined the civil engineering department of Styria County. During the following decade he was engaged with the design and construction of hydraulic engineering projects. He was appointed Regierungs-Baurat in the Water Resources Department of the Ministry for Nourishment and Agriculture in Berlin. In 1941 Kreps returned to his home county as the head of water resources planning, and had to participate in World War II for the last two years. Kreps was appointed head of the Styria Hydrographic Section in 1946 until retirement in 1970. He submitted a PhD thesis to Graz Technical University in 1952 and in 1959 was appointed Lecturer in hydrography. He was awarded Hofrat in 1961 and promoted to associate Professor in 1969. In 1975 Kreps was decorated with the Rittervon-Prechtl Medal by the Technical University of Vienna for his scientific contributions to hydraulic engineering.

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Kreps has significantly advanced knowledge in hydraulic engineering and is known for a discharge formula developed in 1951. The Kreps-formula for a catchment relates the annual mean discharge to the 100 years' flood for Alpine watersheds. Another formula relates the annual mean discharge to the annual mean rainfall and the mean temperature of the watershed considered. The 1952 paper involves the more classic approach for maximum discharges of a certain catchment by relating it to the catchment surface. Other works of Kreps were contributions to hydrology, such as the distribution of flood flows in Styria, and in Austria in general. Kreps may thus be considered another great Austrian hydrologist among his predecessors Andreas Harlacher (1865-1905) and Romuald Iszkowski (1848-1904).

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_{Franke, P.-G., Kleinschroth, A. (1991). Kreps, Harald. Kurzbiographien Hydraulik und Wasserbau: 594-595. Lipp: München. P}

_{Glanz, T. (1983). In memoriam Hofrat Univ.-Prof. Dipl.Ing. Dr.techn. Harald Kreps. Österreichische Wasserwirtschaft 35(1/2): 46-47.}

_{Kreps, H. (1951). Eine neue Hochwasserformel für den Alpenraum. Wasserund Energiewirtschaft}

_{43(6/7): 123-125.}

_{Kreps, H. (1952). Die näherungsweise Ermittlung grosser Hochwasserabflussspenden im Lichte neuerer Betrachtungen. Wasserund Energiewirtschaft 44(4): 55-57.}

_{Schimpf, H. (1971). Hofrat Dr. techn. H. Kreps im Ruhestand. Österreichische Wasserwirtschaft}

_{23(1/2): 36-37.}