Interview: Prof. Dr. Fraedrich

A Chat with Prof. Dr. Fraedrich

By: Annie Li

I was in a wool sweater and snow-pants when I first met Prof. Dr. Klaus Fraedrich in the middle of summer last year. I was three thousand metres above sea level, and contemplating whether or not I wanted to go on a glacier climbing expedition that afternoon when I saw two white vans pull up in front of the gate. My dad, who had brought me along from my ambitious shopping spree in Urümuqi, China, to his Tianshan Glaciological Station two hours north, had been trying to help me retain the little knowledge I had left from the school year in my head.

Prof. Klaus Fraedrich had been one of the scientists sitting in that white van meandering along the side of the mountain; with a steep drop into a gulley that was perhaps ten-stories down on the other side. Unlike me, he seemed unnerved by the experience and stepped out of the vehicle unfazed. So did the other German scientists who were with him in China to participate in a Sino-German Symposium on “water resources in large river catchments of western China and the effects of climate change”.

He was extremely interesting in the sense that he was both funny and knowledgeable. It was he who guided me down a slippery mountain slope in the drizzling rain when we all went mountain climbing. It was I who whittled him into taking an afternoon off from listening to the boring drone of countless speeches into going out and experiencing the fascinating culture of the local people (and to shop a little).

During the actual conference, I was given the role of being a translator for the Head of Water Resources for the Xinjiang province. As I made a fool of myself by translating a page of Chinese into one sentence along the lines of “Hello everyone, welcome to the conference”, Prof. Klaus was tackling serious global climate issues in his own presentation.

Dr. Fraedrich is director of the division “Theoretical Meteorology” at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg:

“…where a broad spectrum of research topics such as non-linear system analysis, climate modeling and theoretical concepts are studied. The group enjoys international recognition through its fruitful cooperation with institutions of oceanography, meteorology and physics. He has authored over 150 publications. In addition to the Gay Lussac Award by the French government, he has also received the Max Planck Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Global Change of the German Federal Government. His section was home to the only graduate group on palaeo-climate-change of the German Research Ministry's Climate Research Programme.”

Need I say more? It was easier copying and pasting from the university website than to wrap my own head around everything he does. He is the type of person that you can trust with the world to handle the problem of climate change.

My Interview with Prof. Dr. Klaus Fraedrich

1.You do a lot of research in your work, especially regarding climate change, is global warming very apparent in your research?

Yes, our whole group is working on it. We have just received funding from an excellence cluster by which we can hire about hundred scientists, 10 professorships etc. Altogether, by this Hamburg will become one of the top-places for climate research in Germany.

2. What do you like/dislike about your job?

I don’t dislike anything, but help is needed to cope with administrative matters.

3. Can you give us some insights about your job?

When I read loudly, I give a lecture, when I read quietly, I do research.

4. What is the hardest aspect of your job?

To concentrate on one thing at a time, as there are too many things to do.

5. What did you aspire to be when you were in high school?

I wanted to be a lot of things, though I wondered how I would be able to do everything that I wanted to do.
6. Share a high school memory with us.

This was a long time ago in high school when we were asked to have all official schoolbooks constantly with us. [Imagine lugging every textbook assigned to you from class to class and getting punished if you forgot one.] So one day we decided to do the very first demonstration ever in my school. We borrowed big suitcases from our parents, put the books into them and then walked into the school building one after another. We were like a gaggle of geese with big suitcases in hand. From then on, that rule was no longer considered to be serious and most of the teachers were sympathetic about it. Mind you, it was long before 1968*, but we became that generation of students later on.

7. Do you have any advice for the students of Martingrove?

Actually, I do not like to give advice as one should know by one's own education. But, as you need a response: do what you would like to do but also keep in mind what others would like you to do. Concentrate on matters of interest to you and try to achieve perfection in it; do it on a very regular basis and keep going. Things you don't like to do: try them, there may be something in it that you may enjoy. If something new is presented to you, do not start by criticizing it but try to see the positive aspects first. Learning different languages and music is another important thing. Travel to learn in other countries - after all, we are all people of the world in the first place and, thereby, realize that you have access to resources another person do not.

*The German student movement of 1968 was a protest movement that was a reaction against the perceived authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the German government. It was also a revolt fighting for better living conditions for students.