Penck's and Drygalski's Heirs

Albrecht Penck habilitates at the Faculty of Philosophy as the first representative of the subject of geography at LMU in 1882 ("The Glaciation of the German Alps"). He continued to teach at LMU until 1885 , holding the first ever geography lectures at LMU. After the first associate professorship for geography (Eugen Oberhummer, 1892), the "Geographical Collection" was founded in 1894 before it became known as the "Geographical Seminar" in 1899 .

Even though Albrecht Penck, in contrast to Friedrich Ratzel, who held the geographical chair at TUM between 1879 and 1886, is primarily known for his pioneering work in physical geography, he, like many other representatives of his subject, was to turn to political geography in the wake of the First World War.

In 1906 the famous polar explorer Erich von Drygalski accepted the call to Munich, where he was to hold the newly created Chair of Geography for the next 29 years. As the leader of the first German Antarctic expedition (Gauss Expedition, 1901-1903), Drygalski's fame extended far beyond the boundaries of the academic world and university geography. Drygalski's tenure also included the seminar becoming the Geographic Institute (1921) .

Drygalski was followed by Fritz Machatschek (1935 - 1946) , another leading glaciologist of the time. During his much too short tenure, Otto Jessen oversaw the planning and construction of a new institutional building in Luisenstraße. Jessen should not get to experience the fruits of his labour as he died early and unexpectedly in spring 1951, mere months before the move took place.

In 1964 an additional chair was established with a focus on marine geography and aerial image analysis . The first holder of the chair was the oceanographer Hans-Günter Gierloff-Emden (1965-1991) . With the appointment of Wolfram Mauser (1991-2021) , the focus of the chair shifted to geographic remote sensing. Hydrology, however, remained an important research subject of the chair.

Since 2022, the chair has been led by Marianela Fader. Her work focuses on nexus research , a holistic approach towards an understanding of environmental systems in all their complexity while professors Ralf Ludwig, Lukas Lehnert and Tobias Hank continue the department's remote sensing tradition. While no longer associated with its original chair, Oceanography is also once again a part of the department under Alexander Haumann and in coopoeration with the Alfred Wegner Insitute (AWI).

Back on the chair first held by Drygalski in 1906, Herbert Louis (1952-1968), a cartographer and geomorphologist with particular expertise in the Balkan region was followed by Friedrich Wilhelm (1969-1995) , a follower Louis' and a proven expert in glaciology , and landscape ecologist Otfried Baume (1995-2017) . Geomorphology also retained its place at the department, first under Konrad Rögner and Carola Küfmann in the present. The current chair holder since 2018 is Julia Pongratz, shifting the chair towards landuse systems.

After Eileen Eckmeier (Soil Science), the emphasis changed to Land-Atmosphere Coupling under Mirjana Sakradzija wheras the importance of Science Communication and Climate Education was officially institutionalized under Imke Hoppe. And while the education of teachers remains a key part of the department's mission, it no longer has its own dedicated Chair of Didactics as was the case under Josef Birkenhauer (1977-1998).