Gerhard Beutler

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Gerhard Beutler (born March 24, 1946 in Bern ) is a Swiss astronomer , geodesist and since 1991 director of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern . His main research interests are fundamental astronomy and the determination of the orbit of earth satellites, which he led to today's precision.

Under his aegis, the Zimmerwald observatory was expanded into a Swiss fundamental station and the Bernese GPS software was developed, which provides the world's most precise calculation models for GNSS satellite orbits and geodetic geodynamics . Today it is used at over 200 research institutes. Beutler also initiated numerous research and industrial collaborations, in particular with Leica Geosystems , the Swiss surveying company Swisstopo , the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG), the Vienna University of Technology , the Technical University of Munich and the European space organization ESA .

Gerhard Beutler studied astronomy, physics and mathematics at the University of Bern and graduated in 1976 with a Dr. phil .; 1983 the habilitation followed here . He then went to the University of New Brunswick (Canada) as a research associate for 1 year . After his return to the Astronomical Institute, Beutler was appointed head of the GPS group founded in 1983, which Markus Rothacher (now ETH Zurich) later took over.

In 1991 the university elected him full professor and director of the institute. As such, he initiated numerous research projects, collaborations and the oe Bernese GPS - program system . In addition to textbooks on celestial mechanics, he has published in numerous specialist journals and as an invited lecturer .

For 2003-2007 Beutler was elected President of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). He is also a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union AGU and a member of the Earth Science Advisory Committee (ESAC) and Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) of ESA . His research has been honored with several honorary doctorates , including a. 2006 from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Surveying at the Technical University of Munich .

In 2006 he received the Vening Meinesz Medal for GPS applications in geophysics and geodesy.