Scientists Honored for Work in Geophysics

The European Geophysical Society (EGS) awarded medals to 13 individuals at a ceremony in Nice, France, this past April.

Götz Paschmann received the Hannes Alfvén Medal for his “outstanding contributions to the exploration and understanding of the magnetospheric boundaries and fundamental processes governing the interactions with the solar wind.” He is a senior scientist with the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, and directs the International Space Science Institute, in Bern, Switzerland.

In bestowing its David Bates Medal on Eberhard Grün, EGS acknowledged Grün’s “innovative experimental and wide-ranging scientific contributions to dust research throughout the heliosphere.” He is a professor of physics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and a researcher at both the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

The Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal went to Joost A. Businger for his “fundamental contributions to the understanding of atmospheric turbulence and boundary layer processes and structure.” He is a professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences and geophysics at the University of Washington.

EGS presented its John Dalton Medal to Murugesu Sivapalan, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Western Australia, Crawley (in Perth). He was recognized for his “pioneering contributions to advancing the science of catchment hydrology.”

Georges Vachaud received the Henry Darcy Medal for his “outstanding contributions to the sustainable management of soil and ground-water systems.” He is a researcher in the field of soils physics and water resources at CNRS and a professor at the Laboratoire d’Etude des Transferts en Hydrologie et Environnement at the University of Grenoble in France.

The Beno Gutenberg Medal was bestowed on Barbara Romanowicz for her “outstanding contributions to wide-ranging topics of theoretical seismology and to the development of broadband seismic networks on land and in the oceans.” She is chair of the department of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Véronique Dehant received the Vening Meinesz Medal in recognition of her “outstanding contributions to the study of nutations of the Earth’s axis of rotation and their implications for the structure of the Earth’s core.” Dehant heads the time, Earth rotation, and space geodesy section at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels.

The Milutin Milanković Medal went to John Imbrie, Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography Emeritus at Brown University. EGS acknowledged his “leadership in the systematic examination of the response of the global climate system to forcing by changes in the Earth—Sun orbital geometry.”

Kurt Polzin received the Fridtjof Nansen Medal in recognition of his “pioneering contributions to the measurement of mixing in the deep ocean.” He is an associate scientist in the physical oceanography department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

EGS awarded its Hans Oeschger Medal to Sigfus Johnsen, associate professor of geophysics at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute. Johnsen was cited for his “outstanding contributions to ice core research through the modeling of water isotopes and their use for paleo-climate reconstruction.”

The Lewis Fry Richardson Medal was given to Uriel Frisch for his “fundamental contributions to the understanding of turbulence.” Frisch is a researcher at CNRS in the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France.

Raymundo S. Punongbayan received the Sergey Soloviev Medal for his “exceptional knowledge and skills in understanding explosive volcanic eruptions” that, according to EGS, “led to the saving of thousands of lives during the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.” He is the executive director of the Earthquake and Megacities Initiative, a nonprofit organization in Quezon City, Philippines.

For his “outstanding contributions to the biogeosciences and to the biogeochemical cycle of carbonates,” Peter Westbroek took home the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal. Westbroek is a professor emeritus in geophysiology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.