He was born in Minden, Germany, west of Hannover, and studied physics, geography, and geology at various universities, finishing his Ph.D. in Kiel in 1881. For his habilitiation project, a study of the effect of the Arctic environment on the migrations of the Inuit Eskimos, he went on a field trip to Baffin Island. Fascinated by the indigenous culture of the Inuit, he began collecting ethnographic data not directly related to his project