Wolfgang Torge

Wolfgang Torge (born June 4, 1931 in Laubusch , then the district of Hoyerswerda in Prussia ) is a German geodesist and author of several textbooks. He was full professor for theoretical geodesy at the Institute for Earth Measurement (IFE) at the University of Hanover . In the 1990s he was twice elected President of the International Association for Geodesy (IAG).

Scientific and international activity

Torge studied surveying at the Technical University of Hanover from 1951 to 1955 and was awarded a Dr.-Ing. PhD. Three years later he received his appointment as a university professor . From 1971 to 2002 he was editor of the journal for surveying .

Torge became widely known for his textbooks, especially the book Geodesy , which first appeared in the Göschen Collection in 1975 and has grown into a standard work in later editions . The English edition was also published in several editions and has been translated into other languages:

• Geodesy - extended edition 2003, 369 pages, Verlag de Gruyter , Berlin.
• Geodesy - Editions 1980, 1991, 2001 and 2012 Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin.
• Translations into Spanish , Chinese and Greek .
• Gravimetry - first published by de Gruyter in 1989 - is hardly less well known.

Torge defines geodesy in a broader and a narrower sense: the broad one includes all areas of surveying , while the narrower one - in the sense of the English "geodesy" - the higher geodesy and national surveying . His books mainly relate to the latter two subjects.

Thanks to his experience from engineering to earth measurement and satellite geodesy , Torge offers a comprehensive overview of the " state of the art ". In the last few decades, the subject has expanded in the direction of geodetic spatial methods , which Torge takes into account not only in the measurement methods with satellites and lasers , GPS or VLBI radio interferometry, but also in the underlying theories, including three- and four-dimensional modeling.

Torge's main area of ​​work lies in the basics of geodesy, which ranges from mathematical geodesy to various types of surveying networks and geoid determination . In the latter area, the Institute for Earth Measurement (IFE) has made a name for itself by calculating European and national geoid solutions in international cooperation. Around 1990 Wolfgang Torge began to develop the vision of a European centimeter geoid, which at the time seemed a long way off and should be achieved around 2020. In addition to geoscientific goals, it will also enable a centimeter-accurate transformation between terrestrial orthometric heights and the geometrically defined GPS heights, which was previously limited to around 5 cm. In the late 1990s, under Torge's aegis, a zenith camera was developed for the precise measurement of vertical deviations ; a few years later it was converted to CCD technology, thus promoting the combination of astro-geodetic methods with gravimetry .

Torge lives in Hanover.

Honors

• Helmert commemorative coin of the German Association for Surveying , 1991
• Eratosthenes honorary award from the support group of the Museum of Surveying Technology in Dortmund, 2013
• Golden Badge of Honor of the DVW, 2013
• Corresponding member of the Braunschweig Scientific Society

literature

• Wolfgang Torge: Geodesy (= Göschen Collection . 2163). de Gruyter , Berlin et al. 1975, ISBN 3-11-004394-7 .
• Wolfgang Torge: Geodesy , de Gruyter textbook, 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition, De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003 ISBN 3-11-017545-2
• Wolfgang Torge and Jürgen Müller : Geodesy , de Gruyter Textbook, 4th edition, De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-020718-7
• Helmut Moritz : What is geodesy? A mostly serious consideration. In: Festschrift Univ. Prof. em. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Torge on his 70th birthday (= scientific work in the field of surveying at the University of Hanover. No. 241, ISSN  0174-1454 ). Department of Surveying at the University of Hanover, Hanover 2001, pp. 43–48.
• Wolfgang Torge: History of geodesy in Germany. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-020719-4 (2nd, revised and corrected edition. ibid 2009).

Web links

• Literature by and about Wolfgang Torge in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wolfgang Torge at the Institute for Earth Measurement (IfE) and most important publications

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} zfv - Journal for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management , 136th year, No. 3/2011, ISSN  1618-8950 , p. N-50
2. ↑ ^{a b} zfv - Journal for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management , Volume 138, No. 6/2013, ISSN  1618-8950 , p. N-99
3. ^ Förderkreis Vermessungstechnisches Museum eV: Eratosthenes Prize for Professor Dr. Torge , communication no.507.