Otto Krümmel was born on July 8th, 1854 in Exin, Posen. From 1873 till 1875 he studied medicine at the University of Leipzig and later on geography and science at the Georg-August University Göttingen and at the Friedrich- Wilhelm University Berlin. 1883 he moved to Kiel teaching at the naval academy before taking over the lead of the ethnological museum of the Kiel University.

In July 1889 he took part in the so-called “Plankton Expedition” with the steamship “National” led by Victor Hensen. During the trip the scientists collected biological and chemical samples as well as physical data from different zones of the Atlantic. From 1902 on Krümmel was the head of the department for hydrography at the newly founded “Laboratory for International Marine Research”. The Laboratory is one of the precursors of the GEOMAR I Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.
While teaching and doing research at Kiel University he developed fundamental methods for marine research and the corresponding instruments. On this basis he is internationally known to be a pioneer for modern Oceanography. One of his main publications is the two volume work “Manual of Oceanography” (1907, 1911).

Krümmel died on October 12th, 1912 in Cologne.