Peter Georg Mezger

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Peter Georg Mezger (born November 16, 1928 in Lindau (Lake Constance) , † July 9, 2014 ) was a German astronomer and director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.

Mezger graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a degree in physics in 1954. In 1955 he went to the University of Bonn, where he contributed to the development of radio astronomy with receiver developments for the radio telescope on the Stockert . To develop low-noise amplifiers, he temporarily moved to Siemens' central laboratory in Munich. In 1963 he was awarded a doctorate by the Technical University of Darmstadt. Ing. PhD.

During his tenure at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, his work on radio recombination lines of ionized gas near young stars received particular attention. In 1969 he was appointed scientific member and director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. He used the then new 100 m telescope in Effelsberg to investigate the cosmic helium abundance, the galactic center and for various studies of the interstellar medium.

Mezger paid great attention to the further development of radio astronomy towards higher frequencies. Here he was significantly involved in the establishment of observatories such as IRAM , the Heinrich Hertz Telescope and SOFIA , as well as in the development of sensitive bolometer cameras for the mm wavelength range.

Peter Georg Mezger was accepted as a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 1989 .

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personal data
SURNAME Mezger, Peter Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Lindau (Lake Constance)
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2014