Ulrich Schmucker

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Ulrich Schmucker (* July 21, 1930 ; † October 27, 2008 in Beijing ) was a German geophysicist who worked in the field of geomagnetics and was one of the pioneers of geomagnetic depth research.

He studied geology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and graduated in 1956 with a thesis on rock magnetism. His interest in the mathematical consideration of physical problems of the earth's magnetic field made him switch to geophysics. Under Julius Bartels he researched the electromagnetic induction of the earth. In the late 1950s he discovered the North German conductivity anomaly, the cause of the abnormal behavior of the Earth's magnetic field in North Germany.

In 1960 he went to America for seven years, where he stayed mostly at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography . Here he carried out measurements a. a. in the USA and Peru . In the process, he discovered two now famous electrical conductivity anomalies in the southwestern United States and under the Andes . The measurement data were recorded on narrow-gauge films developed by himself. He published his results in 1970 in the work Anomalies of geomagnetic variations in the Southwestern United States . With this work he founded the new research field of geomagnetic depth research.

In 1974 Ulrich Schmucker was appointed professor of geomagnetism at the Georg-August University in Göttingen. He taught and researched at the Institute for Geophysics there until his retirement in 1995, but continued to work at the institute almost every day after that.

Ulrich Schmucker was a co-founder of the International Workshop on Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth and was the only scientist who participated in all workshops until his death. From 1983 to 1987 he was a member of the IAGA Executive Committee and from 1987 to 1991 Vice President of IAGA. At the German Geophysical Society (DGG) he was secretary from 1975 to 1979 and its president from 1983 to 1985. In 1982 he received the DGG's highest award, the Emil Wiechert Medal .

He died on October 27, 2008 while attending the 19th International Workshop on Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth in Beijing. A memorial colloquium took place at the end of June 2009 in the Sacred Heart Monastery in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse .

In his honor and that of Peter Weidelt , who died in 2009, the Electromagnetic Depth Research Colloquium (EMTF) was renamed the Schmucker-Weidelt Colloquium for Electromagnetic Depth Research.

Awards

  • 1982 - Emil Wiechert Medal of the DGG
  • 2001 - GW Hohmann Award for Excellence in Applied Electrical Geophysics

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