This history started with the work of Samuel Reyher published in 1697 and is today continued within the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.
[2] Systematic marine research, however, began only later during the 19th century with biological studies, most notably by the zoologist Karl August Möbius (1825-1908), the physiologist Victor Hensen (1835-1924), the marine production biologist Karl Brandt (1854-1931), and the zoologist Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Behn (1808-1878) who participated in the first of the Danish Galathea expeditions (1845-1847).
Expeditions in the Baltic and North Seas were performed with Kiel scientists, with S.M.Aviso-Steamer Pommerania (1871, 1872) [Einzel 2] and later with the freight-steamer Holsatia (1887, 1901/02).
[Einzel 5] The Kiel oceanographer Gustav Karsten published the results from the physical measurements of the Gazelle cruise in 1888.
[Einzel 6] The Plankton-Expedition in the Atlantic Ocean on the ’’National’’ in 1889 was the beginning of deep-sea expeditions carried out by Kiel scientists.
The merchant and industrialist Heinrich Adolph Meyer (1822-1889) from Hamburg managed to convene a group united by marine research interests.
Beginning in 1859, Meyer carried out first hydrographic observations in Kiel Fjord and started systematic measurements for the investigation of seasonal changes in the Baltic Sea.
[Einzel 7] A "Laboratory for international marine science" (in German: "Laboratorium für die internationale Meeresforschung") was established by the Commission in 1902.
In addition, Kiel was the home of outstanding scientists and engineers in marine acoustics as part of industry and navy, in particular Alexander Behm (1880-1952), Hugo Lichte (1891-1963)[Einzel 8] and Karl Heinrich Hecht (1880-1961).
He had been a scientific leader at the former Institute and Museum of Marine Sciences at Berlin University (in German: “Institut und Museum für Meereskunde (Berlin)“ [p 13] and had mostly performed research on the circulation of water masses in the global ocean and in particular in the deep Atlantic.
[p 20] In order to obtain additional funding from the federal and other state governments, the IfM joined the group of “blue list” research institutions (see Leibniz Association in 1968.
New statutes introduced a collegial system, with the acting director being elected for two-year terms by a panel composed of department heads and employee representatives.
[p 1] A relevant number of IfM scientists worked at foreign research institutions for extended time periods, primarily in the USA.
[p 22] With the aim of achieving an increasing collaboration of marine disciplines in Kiel, the “IfM” and “Geomar” joined organizationally to form “IFM-GEOMAR” as part of the “Leibniz Association” on January 1, 2004.
[8] Due to fiscal considerations, IFM-GEOMAR was transferred to an institution of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres on January 1, 2004, thus being primarily funded by the federal government.