 From 1901 to 1905, he studied geography, mathematics and physics at the University of Göttingen, where he was a student of Hermann Wagner.Later on, he worked as an assistant to geographer Joseph Partsch at the University of Leipzig (1908/09).In 1912/13 he participated as a geographer in the "Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss Expedition" to New Guinea along with Richard Thurnwald.