Harald Schuh

Harald Schuh (born February 27, 1956 in Heidelberg ) is a German geodesist and since autumn 2012 director of Department 1 (Geodesy) of the Helmholtz Center Potsdam, German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ). At the same time, he holds the professorship for the field of satellite geodesy at the Technical University of Berlin , Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation Technology . He is one of the world's most important researchers in the field of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).

Harald Schuh (2013)

Life

After attending the Lever-Gymnasium in Pforzheim , where he passed his Abitur in 1974, Schuh studied geodesy at the University of Bonn . He completed his studies in 1979 as a graduate engineer (geodesy).

Immediately afterwards, in January 1980, Schuh began his scientific career as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Photogrammetry at the University of Bonn, where he switched to the Institute for Geodesy that same year. There he was a research assistant until the end of 1986, during which time he did his doctorate on the subject of 'VLBI for the determination of station displacements and Earth rotation' ( doctorate in July 1986). From 1987 to 1988 he continued to work at the Institute for Geodesy as a junior professor. Between 1989 and 1995 he worked as a scientist at the German Aerospace Institute . In April 1995 he moved to the DGFI Academy Institute in Munich, where he headed the "Earth Rotation" department.

In 2000 he was appointed as a university professor as Professor for Higher Geodesy at the Technical University of Vienna , succeeding Kurt Bretterbauer . Soon after his appointment to the Vienna University of Technology, Schuh was elected chairman of the Surveying Study Commission , which he led through the difficult phase of two study reforms initiated by science policy , was also Dean of Studies for Geodesy in the newly structured Faculty of Mathematics and Geodesy and Chairman of the Faculty Council.

As director of the Institute for Geodesy and Geophysics, he was elected President of the Austrian Geodetic Commission (2008–2013) and was also President of the Austrian IUGG National Committee (2009–2013).

In 2012 he was offered a professorship for satellite geodesy at the Technical University of Berlin , which he accepted. The professorship is associated with the management of Section 1.1 “Geodetic Space Methods” at the GeoForschungszentrum Potsdam .

Schuh became internationally known for his research in the field of VLBI, geodetic interferometry with quasars. He is intensifying this research area in Vienna and, together with international colleagues, founded the International VLBI Service (IVS), a global umbrella organization and data service for the coordination and further development of cosmic geodesy using long-range interferometry. From 2007 to 2013 he was head of the IVS.

To the fields of Harald shoe also includes parts of astrophysics and Geodynamics , the GNSS -based satellite tracking , analysis of time series of the Earth's rotation and the modeling of atmospheric effects in geodesy. A highlight was the award of the Descartes Prize 2003 , which an international research group led by the Belgian astronomer Veronique Dehant received for modeling nutation. Schuh's research group (together with Robert Weber ) played a decisive role in this promising modeling of the earth's body using geodetic measurement methods. The funds flowing out of the price served u. a. for employing young researchers in his Vienna project team.

Schuh is a member of many national and international professional associations, including the DVW Berlin-Brandenburg eV - Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management . In 2014 he was elected as a member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin to the working group geo-, mining and environmental, space and astro sciences.

In 2002 Schuh became a corresponding member of the German Geodetic Commission ; when he was appointed full professor at the TU Berlin, he became a full member in 2012. He has been its chairman since 2020.

From 2009 to 2012 Schuh was President of Commission 19 "Earth Rotation" of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

From 2011 to 2015 Schuh was Vice President of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), from 2015 to 2019 its President.

Schuh has been chairman of the board of trustees of the Museum of Surveying Technology since 2016 .

In 2017 the University of Tehran awarded Schuh the title of adjunct professor in the field of engineering.

Honors

Descartes Prize of the European Commission (team prize, EUR 300,000) for the project "Non-rigid Earth nutation model - Pinpoint positioning in a wobbly world", 2003

Elected as Fellow of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), 2007

Honorary doctorate , Doctor honoris causa (Dr. hc) from the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG) , Sofia , Bulgaria , 2009