Professor of climatology and meteorology
Born and educated in Vienna, he earned a PhD in geophysics, geology and meteorology from the University of Vienna in 1926. From 1927 to 1929 he was assistant instructor of geology. From 1929 to 1933 Biel served as head of department of climatology at the Breslau Observatory. In 1932 he became Dozent in climatology at the University of Breslau, then in Germany.
In 1935 he was appointed Dozent in meteorology, climatology and geography at the Volkshochschule, Vienna. In 1938, after the Nazis came to power in Austria, E. Biel immigrated to the USA. In the same year he became a member of the department of meteorology and climatology of the College of Agriculture at Rutgers Univiversity, New Brunswick, NJ. In 1938, he was visiting professor, in 1942 professor, from 1946 to 1963 chairman of department, and from 1963 professor emeritus. Concurrently, from 1942 to 1951 Biel was visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and also served, as a civilian, with U.S. Air Force projects; from 1948 to 1954 he was associated editor of Journal of Meteorology. From 1965 he was visiting professor of meteorology at the Florida State University, Tallahassee.
E.Biel conducted research in applied, general and regional climatology, particularly of Central Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean region; investigated variability of precipitation.
Biel received a number of distinctions: National Lecturer, Sigma Xi; lecturer, National Scientific Foundation (both in 1960); Lindback Foundation Award (1963); citation, Rutgers College of Agriculture.
Biels’ first works such as Klimatographie, des ehemaligen osterreichischen Kustenlandes (Vienna, 1927); Die Veranderlichkeit der Jahressumme des Niederschlags auf der Erde (Leipzig, 1929); Probleme der Schlesischen Klimatologie (Breslau, 1934,) were published in German. Climatology of the Mediterranean Area was published in Chicago in 1944.