I am sitting here watching, and listening to the loud rain falling on the roof cooling down the house. Not too long ago Belgium, and Ghent, in particular, experienced the hottest night in its 'recorded' history. Well, the question is when did it start to get recorded? I checked the weather reports (that almost always are wrong), and I remember about a unique weather station in Zareb Croatia.
Although Earthquakes and other natural disasters seem to be constantly in the news nowadays, unfortunately, our poor world has been experiencing such since time immemorial. In 1880, the city of Zagreb was ruined by an earthquake. Perhaps a closer study of the earth, movements, and the weather could have forewarned them. With this in mind, Adolf Holzer sought to provide some relief.
Adolf was a doctor for the army, he must have seen some terrible things, and understood that most of the sufferings he dealt with were to do with soldiers dealing with bad weather rather than bullet wounds.
The construction was managed by Ivan Stozir and most impressively designed by the famous architect Herman Bollé (1845-1926).
The structure rests on a piece of Istrian marble, and the actual meteorological devices were imported from Göttingen. Adolf was not a meteorologist, he did not design the building, but it was his idea, and he paid for it. To thank Dr. Adolf Holzer, the municipality of Zareb gave a tribute to him, as the, provincial health advisor. He was one of the physicians that made a close relationship with weather patterns and illnesses through, disease and microbes, he achieved this through weather patterns while Adolf Mayer Achieved it through tobacco plants.
The people of Zagreb, or if you like, 'Zagrebians' flocked to look at a machine that told them that it was raining and wet. More than a hundred years later the weather station still stands. However, most use the internet to check the weather now. Although it seems obvious to us today, the work of Adolf Holzer and others physicians paved a concrete understanding of the connection between weather with our health and illnesses. More so since the construction of the weather station in 1884 the citizens of Croatia have been recording their weather patterns, providing a better understanding of climate change.
Holzer is not only remembered in Croatia but also in the suburbs of Vienna, with the street named Adolf Holzer Gasse.
A great little work "On Weather, Medicine and Weather Stand: A History Echoing into the Present." by... Stella Fatovic -Ferencic and, Tatjana Buklijas