RICHTER Heinrich

AUSTRIA (see also List of Individuals)

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16.11.1854 Karolinental/CR - 28.9.1912 Wien/A

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The Bohemian Heinrich Richter graduated from the Prague Technical University and entered there in 1877 the German Polytechnic Institute. He was introduced to hydrography by collaboration with Andreas Harlacher (1842-1890). Richter directed the Bohemian Hydrographic State Service after Harlacher's death. Under his leadership, this service expanded and added considerably to the design of canals and the improvement of the large Bohemian rivers. Richter was appointed Oberbaurat in 1909 and awarded the Order of the Iron Crown in 1912. He also was appointed Cavalier of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, among other awards.

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Richter was an honorable succeeder of Harlacher and an expert in hydrography. He paid a particular attention to the catchment of Elbe River whose source is in the Carpathian Mountains Northeast from Prague, then crosses the Czech-German border East of Dresden, to finally run into the North Sea downstream of Hamburg. Richter determined discharges at various locations with special hydrographic stations, as were introduced by his mentor. These works are summarized in his books on the Elbe River. Richter predicted the arrival of flood waves. His information was collected from site observations, because the corresponding hydraulic theory was developed in France by Charles Kleitz (1808-1886) only in the 1870s. In the 1890s, Richter proceeded to the prediction of daily water levels, an important issue for river navigation. Both, the Elbe and the Moldavia Rivers were thereby considered, with an international collaboration of the neighboring countries. The inland Czechoslovakia depended on this knowledge to assure both import and export transports. The last years of Richter's professional career were devoted to predictions of river discharge and flow depth. He thus was a pioneer of modern hydrometry using methods that were elaborated in the 19th century.

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_{Anonymous (1912). K.k. Oberbaurat Heinrich Richter. Österreichische Wochenschrift für den Öffentlichen Baudienst 18(43): 777-778. P}

_{Harlacher, A.R., Richter, H. (1886). Mittheilungen über eine einfache Ermittlung der Abflussmengen von Flüssen und über die Vorherbestimmung der Wasserstände. Försters Allgemeine Bauzeitung 51(2): 17-20; 51(3): 25-32.}

_{Richter, H. (1893). Vorausberechnung der Wasserstände der oberen Elbe. Haase: Prag. Richter, H. (1894). Die Einrichtung des Wasserstands-Voraussagedienstes an der oberen Elbe. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 44(1/3): 85-106.}

_{Richter, H. (1900). Die hydrometrischen Arbeiten an der Elbe bei Tetschen. Prag.}