Julius von Payer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Julius Payer as First Lieutenant (around 1865) | |
| Born | (1841-09-02)2 September 1841 |
| Died | 29 August 1915(1915-08-29) (aged 73) |
| Resting place | Vienna Central Cemetery |
| Known for | Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition |
Julius Johannes Ludovicus Ritter von Payer (2 September 1841 – 29 August 1915), ennobledRitter von Payer in 1876, was an officer of theAustro-Hungarian Army, mountaineer,arctic explorer,cartographer, painter, and professor at theTheresian Military Academy. He is chiefly known for theAustro-Hungarian North Pole expedition in 1872–74 and the discovery ofFranz Josef Land.
Born inSchönau,Bohemia, his father Franz Anton Rudolf Payer was a retired officer of the AustrianUhlans who died when Julius was only fourteen. His mother was Blandine, née John. Payer attended thek.k. cadet school in Łobzów nearKraków,Galicia (present-dayPoland). Between 1857 and 1859 he studied at the Theresian Military Academy inWiener Neustadt.
From 1859, Payer served as asub-lieutenant with the Austrian 36th infantry regiment inVerona,Venetia. He participated in the disastrousBattle of Solferino on 24 June 1859 and was honoured for his service. After promotion to the rank oflieutenant first class, he was posted to the garrison ofChioggia, Venetia in 1864. On 24 June 1866 he served theBattle of Custoza, seizing two guns, for which he was decorated and elevated to the rank ofsenior lieutenant.
Since 1863 Payer was assigned as a history and geography teacher to the cadet school inEisenstadt, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867) (present-dayAustria) and to the Theresian Military Academy. In 1868 the Austro-HungarianMinister of WarFranz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld appointed him a general staff officer at thek.k. Military Geographic Institute inVienna, where he worked withAugust von Fligely.
In 1862 Payer had started exploratory tours of theTyrolean Alps and theHigh Tauern range in his free time. After 1864 he explored theAdamello-Presanella Group and theOrtler Alps, making more than 60 first ascents. In 1864 he was, with his guide Giovanni Caturani, the first to climbAdamello (3,554 m) and missed making the first ascent of thePresanella (3,558 m) by just three weeks. All his explorations in the Ortler massif (from 1865 to 1868) were guided byde:Johann Pinggera fromSulden. Together, often accompanied by a porter, they ascended almost all significant unclimbed summits, including theHoher Angelus (3,521 m),Vertainspitze (3,545 m),Palon de la Mare (3,703 m),Monte Zebru (3,735), andMonte Cevedale (3,769 m). Their new approach to theOrtler (3,905 m) became the normal route of ascent ever since.
His tours resulted in creating a detailedtopographical map at a scale 1:56,000. Due to his achievements, Payer was transferred to the Austrian Military Geographic Institute. When in 1875, the firstAlpine club hut above 3000 m was built on the normal route to the Ortler, it was namedde:Payerhütte in his honor.
In 1868 he was invited by the German geographerAugust Petermann to participate in the 2ndGerman North Polar Expedition as atopographer. Travelling to the coast ofEast Greenland on theGermania under CaptainCarl Koldewey in 1869–1870, they reached as far north asShannon Island. In 1871 he participated in the preliminaryAustro-Hungarian expedition toNovaya Zemlya, withKarl Weyprecht.
From 1872 to 1874, Payer led theAustro-Hungarian North Pole expedition withKarl Weyprecht, who was Commander at sea, while Payer was Commander on shore. During this voyage they made the discovery of Franz Joseph Land, however upon their return to Vienna many critics voiced doubts about its existence and about the experiences of other participants in the expedition.[citation needed] Payer could have proven his statements using testimonies, diaries and sketches, however his efforts were thwarted, including his promotion to captain. In 1874 he resigned from the army because of political maneuvers against him and his brother officers' doubts about his discovery and his sledge journeys. He was awarded 44florins on 1 October 1874 for the discovery of Franz Joseph Land (about equal to the monthly salary of a Sub-lieutenant at the time).He was also awarded the 1975Royal Geographical SocietysPatron's Medal.[1]
However, on 24 October 1876 he was elevated to theAustrian nobility which entitled him and his descendants to the style ofRitter von in the case of male andvon in the case of female offspring.
In 1877 Ritter von Payer married the ex-wife of a banker fromFrankfurt am Main. They later had two children, Jules and Alice.
From 1877 to 1879 he studied painting withHeinrich Hasselhorst at theStädelschule in Frankfurt am Main. From 1880 to 1882 he continued his study of art at theAcademy of Fine Arts, Munich.
From 1884 to 1890 he worked as a painter inParis.
In 1890 he divorced his wife, returned to Vienna and founded a painting school for ladies.
In 1895 he planned a trip for painting toKejser Franz Joseph Fjord in northeastern (Greenland).
In 1912 he planned (at the age of seventy) an expedition in a submarine to theNorth Pole.
He died inVeldes, in historicUpper Carniola, today part of Slovenia, in 1915.
Besides the Payerhütte mentioned above and several streets in Vienna, an island of Franz Josef Land (Payer Island), thePayer Mountains inAntarctica and Payer Land in easternGreenland have been named after Julius von Payer.
The southern satellite camp for the PolAres MARS2013 analog mission by theOeWF, approximately 80 km south of the base camp nearErfoud,Morocco, was namedStation Payer during February 2013, after the main base camp had been calledCamp Weyprecht during the landing ceremony in the morning of 11 February 2013.
