Dr. Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe
Dr. Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe brings you into Kiel’s maritime history, where navigation technology confronted the limits of magnetic compasses near the Arctic poles. His work transformed that challenge into instruments for ships and scientific expeditions.
In 1904, he tested his first gyro course keeper on the Kiel Fjord, then founded Anschütz & Co in Kiel in 1905. The company introduced the first operational gyrocompass in 1907, giving ships accurate directional guidance without relying on Earth’s magnetic field. Collaboration with Albert Einstein refined the technology into a two-gyrosphere compass during the 1920s.
The same line of invention produced the world’s first ship autopilot, known as the “iron helmsman,” alongside integrated navigation systems. Its lasting detail is simple: a test on Kiel Fjord helped point maritime navigation beyond the magnetic compass.
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The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.
Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Kiel. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
What is myTuur?
myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.