Köppen was among the last of the well-rounded scholars that were able to make contributions of a significant nature to more than one branch of the sciences. He first worked for the Russian Meteorological Service, but later he moved to Germany. Once there, he became chief of the Division of Marine Meteorology at the German Naval Observatory. From there, he established a weather forecasting service for Northwestern Germany and adjacent seas.
After four years, he left the meteorological office and moved on to fundamental research. Through studying the climate and experimenting with balloons, Köppen learned about the upper layers that were found in the atmosphere and how to gather data. In 1884 he published a climactic zone map that showed the seasonal temperature ranges. This led to his Classification System, which was created in 1900.
The Classification System remained a work in progress. Köppen continued to improve it throughout his lifetime, and he was always adjusting it and making changes as he continued to learn more. The first full version of it was completed in 1918. After more changes were made to it, it was finally published in 1936.
Despite the time that the Classification System took up, Köppen was involved in other activities. He acquainted himself with the field of paleoclimatology as well. He and his son-in-law, Alfred Wegener, later published a paper entitled The Climates of the Geological Past. This paper was very important in providing support to the Milankovich Theory.
