Karl-Heinz Rädler (14 May 1935 – 9 February 2020) was an astrophysicist at the

Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is a German research institute. It is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam (AOP) founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first o ...

who worked on cosmic magnetic fields.

Personal life

Rädler was born on 14 May 1935 in Riesa, the youngest of two children of a clerk. He died on 9 February 2020 at the age of 84.

Research

His research focused on cosmic

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

s. In the 1970s he explained how they were created in stars and planets using the dynamo model. He worked on the theory behind experiments with

liquid sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable isot ...

, which provided evidence for the cosmic dynamo.

Career

He was the founding director of the

, and he was its Scientific Chairman in 1992–1998, as well as leading its Cosmic Magnetic Fields group in 1992–2000. He was a professor at the University of Potsdam in 1994–2000. He was on the first senate of the re-founded

Viadrina European University European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the ...

. He was a scientist at the Central Institute for Astrophysics in the GDR, and an editor of

Astronomische Nachrichten ''Astronomische Nachrichten'' (''Astronomical Notes''), one of the first international journals in the field of astronomy, was established in 1821 by the German astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher. It claims to be the oldest astronomical jour ...

. In 1998 he received the Emil Wiechert Medal from the

German Geophysical Society The German Geophysical Society (german: Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft, DGG) is a society for geophysics in Germany; it was founded on 19 Sep 1922 in Leipzig, Germany on the initiative of the seismologist Emil Wiechert, as the Deutsche Seism ...

, and the Wilhelm Foerster Prize from the Urania Potsdam. In 2013 he received the Karl Schwarzschild Medal from Astronomische Gesellschaft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rädler, Karl-Heinz 1935 births 2020 deaths German astrophysicists People from Riesa University of Potsdam European University Viadrina