Scientists Recognized for Geophysics Work

In April, at its 27th general assembly in Nice, France, the European Geophysical Society (EGS) presented several awards.

Bengt Hultqvist, director emeritus of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, received the Hannes Alfvén Medal for his “important contributions to auroral and magnetospheric physics and his leading role in initiating and supporting space research projects both nationally and internationally.” He currently is the secretary general of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy.

The David Robert Bates Medal was given to Dominique Bockelée-Morvan for her “exceptional observations and interpretations of the composition of comets.” She is a director of research with the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and is an astronomer with the Paris Observatory’s laboratory of spatial studies and instrumentation in astrophysics (LESIA).

Klaus Hasselmann received the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal for his “pioneering contributions to the theory and modeling of ocean-atmosphere interaction and climate variability, which have improved our ability to predict ocean waves and detect climate change.” He retired in 2000 as a director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and as a professor of geophysics at the University of Hamburg.

The John Dalton Medal was presented to Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, professor of engineering and director of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She was acknowledged for her “outstanding contributions to the understanding of space-time precipitation variability.”

Wolfgang Kinzelbach received the Henry Darcy Medal for his “outstanding contributions to the sustainable management of groundwater systems.” He directs the Institute of Hydromechanics and Water Resources Management at ETH Zürich.

The EGS presented its Beno Gutenberg Medal to Tatiana B. Yanovskaya, professor of geophysics at St. Petersburg State University’s V. A. Fock Institute of Physics in Russia. She was recognized for her “major theoretical achievement in the modeling of surface waves and tsunami propagation in laterally inhomogeneous media.”

The joint winners of the Vening Meinesz Medal were Georges Balmino and Christoph Reigber, who were cited for their “outstanding contributions in the field of satellite geodesy and the study of the Earth’s gravity field.” Balmino is the director of the research group in satellite geodesy (GRGS), a federation of several groups in France that work in this domain, and head of the division of satellite geodesy at the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales in Toulouse, France. Reigber is the director of the kinematics and dynamics of the Earth division at the Geo-Research Center in Potsdam (GFZ Potsdam) and a professor of geophysics at Potsdam University.

The EGS bestowed its Milutin Milankovic Medal on I. Colin Prentice in honor of his “outstanding contributions in modeling the terrestrial biosphere as an interactive component of our Earth system.” He is a director of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany.

Peter D. Killworth received the Fridtjof Nansen Medal in recognition of his “many far-reaching contributions to theoretical oceanography which have significantly enlarged our understanding of the processes determining ocean circulation.” Killworth is an Individual Merit Scientist and a professor of oceanography at the Southampton Oceanography Centre in the UK.

J. Michael Brown, chair of the earth and space sciences department at the University of Washington, received the Louis Néel Medal. He was cited for his “distinguished work in devising sophisticated experiments to infer the physical properties of iron and deep Earth materials and for his outstanding contributions to mineral physics of the Earth’s core.”

The Hans Oeschger Medal went to Philip D. Jones for his “outstanding contribution and tireless effort in reconstructing the climate of the last 250 years at global and regional scales.” He is the director of external affairs at the University of East Anglia’s climatic research unit in Norwich, UK.

The EGS presented its Plinius Medal to Emmanouil N. Anagnostou, assistant professor with the University of Connecticut’s department of civil and environmental engineering. He was honored for his “outstanding achievements in combining meteorology and hydrology to improve our knowledge and understanding of natural hazards.”

This year’s Lewis Fry Richardson medalist was Friedrich H. Busse, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. He was acknowledged for his “imaginative contributions to the understanding of nonlinear thermal convection and his models for the geodynamo.”

William K. Hartmann and Gerhard Neukum jointly received the Runcorn-Florensky Medal for their “outstanding contributions to the determination of the age of planetary surfaces from the frequency distribution of impact craters.” Hartmann is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. Neukum is a professor of planetary science at the Free University of Berlin and the director of the DLR Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration in Berlin.

Franco Siccardi, professor of civil engineering at the University of Genoa in Italy, received the Sergey Soloviev Medal. He was cited for his “distinguished and pioneering work in the understanding, prediction, and mitigation of natural hazards, and his efforts to promote their interdisciplinary approach.”

The EGS handed out its Young Scientists’ Publication Award to Emma J. Bunce for her paper with Stan Cowley entitled “Divergence of the Equatorial Current in the Dawn Sector of Jupiter’s Magnetosphere: Analysis of Pioneer and Voyager Magnetic Field Data,” which appeared in Planetary and Space Science in 2001. Bunce is a planetary science research associate in the radio and space plasma physics group at the University of Leicester, UK.