In 1927 he was elected as a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and from 1932 to 1934 was university rector. From 1924 he worked closely with geophysicist Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) at Graz, also maintaining professional ties with physicist Victor Franz Hess (1883–1964) and climatologist Victor Conrad (1876–1962) during his career. With Hess he co-authored a comprehensive treatise on atmospheric electricity (1928).