Stephan Müller (geophysicist)

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Stephan Müller , also Mueller, (* July 30, 1930 in Marktredwitz ; † February 17, 1997 in Zurich ) was a geophysicist of German descent who worked in Switzerland.

Life

Müller received his diploma as a physicist from the TH Stuttgart in 1957 and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1959 , where his interest in geophysics began with Maurice Ewing at the Lamont Observatory. In 1962 he received his doctorate in geophysics under Wilhelm Hiller in Stuttgart ( system-theoretical synthesis of seismic propagation processes with normal dispersion ). The dissertation was developed in contact with Ewing and led around 1960 (simultaneously with Leon Knopoff ) to the first determination of structures of the upper mantle from seismic waves.

In 1964 he became professor and director of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Karlsruhe , where he researched the structure of the Upper Rhine Rift with Karl Fuchs and Henning Illies . Together with other scientists in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, he founded the Black Forest Observatory (BFO) and was also responsible for the Central Seismological Observatory Graefenberg (SZGRF). In 1971 he succeeded Fritz Gassmann (1899–1990) as professor of geophysics at the ETH Zurich and head of the Swiss Seismological Service, within the framework of which he set up a network of observation centers in Switzerland. There, in addition to seismics, he expanded other areas of geophysics and in 1977 also became professor for geophysics at the University of Zurich .

In 1980, together with Gildo Calcagnile and Giuliano Panza, he created a map of the thickness of the lithosphere and the speed of seismic shear waves in Europe. In 1983 he initiated the Swiss research project Deep Structure of the Swiss Alps with Peter Fricker , Ernst Niggli and Rudolf Trümpy , the results of which were published shortly after his death in 1997. In 1982 he and Trümpy initiated the European Geotraverse Project (EGT), a seismic cross-section through Europe from Scandinavia to Tunisia. In addition, from 1981 to 1991 he was the scientific director of the Wegener-Medlas project for the exploration of the crust structure in the Mediterranean region and was active in the CREST group (Continental Rifts - Evolution, Structure, Tectonics).

Müller was President of the European Seismological Commission from 1972 to 1976, on the Board of Directors of the International Seismological Center from 1975 to 1985, President of the European Geophysical Society from 1978 to 1980 and of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior from 1987 to 1991 .

He was a member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences , Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society , Fellow of the American Geophysical Union , member of Leopoldina , Academia Europaea and honorary member of the European Geophysical Society and the Geological Society of London . He received the Medaille de l'Ordre Grand-Ducal Luxembourgois de la Couronne de Chêne and the Gustav Steinmann Medal of the Geological Association .

He was married and had two sons.

The Stephan Mueller Medal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and, before that, the European Geophysical Society (EGS) is named in his honor and awarded for exceptional achievements in the tectonics and geophysics of the lithosphere.

Fonts

  • with Derek Blundell, R. Freeman, Sue Button A continent revealed: the european Geotraverse , Cambridge University Press 1992
  • Editor (International Upper Mantle Committee) The Structure of the earth's crust: based on seismic data , Elsevier 1974
  • Editor with Mereau, Fountain: Properties of the earths lower crust , International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, American Geophysical Union 1989

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to Leopoldina Yearbook 1997
  2. ↑ Published by the Lamont Geological Observatory in 1962 with Maurice Ewing Synthesis of normally dispersed wave trains by means of linear system theory
  3. ^ OA Pfiffner, P. Lehner, P. Heitzmann, St. Müller, A. Steck (eds.), Deep structure of the Swiss Alps. Results of NRP 20, Birkhäuser 1997
  4. ↑ Member entry of Stephan Müller at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 16, 2016.
  5. ^ Mueller Medal of the EGU , laureate in the EGS time
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Stephan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss geophysicist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Marktredwitz
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 1997
Place of death Zurich