Walter Wargau

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Walter Wargau

Walter Friedrich Wargau (born April 26, 1948 in Munich ; † November 6, 1996 in Schwabach , Middle Franconia ) was a German astronomer and university professor in Pretoria .

Life

Wargau grew up in the Steigerwald and studied physics , philosophy and astronomy at the Friedrich-Alexander University . In the winter semester 1969/70 he became active in the Corps Guestphalia Erlangen . After the intermediate examination, he turned to nuclear physics , in which he wrote his thesis (1975). Then he switched to astronomy, in which he wrote his doctoral thesis . After graduating as Dr. rer. nat. (1980) he stayed in Erlangen for another three years. In the meantime he was at the La Silla Observatory and at the Dr. Remeis Observatory . Together with three colleagues he received the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize in 1982 . In 1983 he went to the University of South Africa as a Senior Lecturer , which in 1987 appointed him Associate Professor . He made UNISA the link between students and amateur and specialist astronomers from all over the world. His inclination towards didactics of astronomy coincided with the status of UNISA as a distance university ; because that way he could also teach students in Europe and overseas. He expanded the recordings of his lectures into a multi-volume textbook. As an observing astronomer, he achieved the establishment of an observatory in Pretoria . The new building with the Celestron telescope was opened in 1992. For the International Astronomical Union he worked in Commission No. 42 (Narrow Double Stars). He dealt intensively with Halley's Comet . Infected with hepatitis since 1978 , he was unable to return to South Africa in 1996 . He died at the age of 48 in Schwabach hospital, leaving behind his wife and a son. At the request of his mother, the urn was buried in Selb .

Memberships

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 49/465.
  2. ↑ Dissertation: Investigations of dwarf novae and other cataclysmic variables in the minimum and maximum . GoogleBooks
  3. ↑ a b Obituary in the corps newspaper of Guestphalia Erlangen
  4. ↑ a b Joseph Gochermann, Rolf Chini: Walter Wargau † (Information of the Astronomical Society)
  5. ↑ Gawie Cillie, Walter Wargau: Halley se Komeet 1985/6
personal data
SURNAME Wargau, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wargau, Walter Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer and university professor in Pretoria
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1996
Place of death Schwabach , Middle Franconia