Albrecht Penck

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Albrecht Penck (September 25, 1858 – March 7, 1945), was a German geographer and geologist and the father of Walther Penck.

Born in Reudnitz near Leipzig, Penck became a university professor in Vienna from 1885 to 1906, and in Berlin from 1906 to 1927. There he was also the director of the Institute and Museum for Oceanography by 1918. Penck dedicated himself to geomorphology and climatology and raised the international profile of the Vienna School of physisal geography. In 1945, Penck died in Prague. Since 1886, he was married to the sister of the successful Bavarian regional writer Ludwig Ganghofer. In memory of Penck, the painter and sculptor Ralf Winkler adopted the nom de plume A. R. Penck in 1966.

Penck, Albrecht (äl'brekht pengk) [key], 1858–1945, German geographer and geologist. He was professor at the Univ. of Vienna (1885–1906) and at the Univ. of Berlin (1906–26) and was director (1906–22) of the institutes of oceanography and of geography, Berlin. He is noted for his study of glaciation (especially in the Alps), for his pioneer classification of land forms, and for his work in the development of modern regional geography. Outstanding among his many works is Morphologie der Erdoberfläche [morphology of the earth's surface] (1894, rev. ed. 1928).