Professor Rawer at his 104th birthday in 2017 Karl Maria Alois Rawer (19 April 1913 – 17 April 2018) was a German specialist in radio wave propagation and the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

. He developed the analytical code to determine suitable frequency ranges for

short wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (10 ...

communication by which German forces built-up their long distance communications during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

After studies of mathematics and physics in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(with

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretica ...

), under

Jonathan Zenneck Jonathan Adolf Wilhelm Zenneck (15 April 1871 – 8 April 1959) was a German physicist and electrical engineer who contributed to researches in radio circuit performance and to the scientific and educational contributions to the literature of t ...

he wrote a thesis on partial reflection of radio waves in an ionospheric layer. Aware of this

Johannes Plendl Johannes "Hans" Plendl (6 December 1900 – 10 May 1991), German radar pioneer, was the scientist whose airplane navigation inventions made possible the early German bombing successes in World War II. Early life Plendl was born in 1900 in Munich, ...

charged him to serve as adviser for the

Shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

communications of the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, since 1943 for Navy and Army as well. Rawer's code assumes zig-zag paths between Earth and ionosphere. Monthly predictions take account of day-to-day variations. Long term changes from

solar cycle The solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surfa ...

s is taken account of by Wolfgang Gleißberg´s prediction method. After the war

Yves Rocard Yves-André Rocard (22 May 1903 – 16 March 1992) was a French physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb for France. Rocard was born in Vannes. After obtaining a double doctorate in mathematics (1927) and physics (1928) he was awarded the ...

, then director of French Navy research, was impressed by Rawer's code. He engaged him as "directeur scientifique" (1946–56) of his newly founded "Service de Prevision Ionospherique". Between 1956–69, Rawer, serving in Germany as director of "Ionosphären-Institut Breisach" switched to space research. With his team he participated in the first French scientific rocket launch 1954 in the

Sahara desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and later they experimented aboard rockets of different nationality. From 1958 to 1964, he was "professeur associe" at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. Rawer held several offices in the international space research organisation

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU). Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, wi ...

. As director of "Fraunhofer-Institut für physikalische Weltraumforschung" (1969–79) he became the father of the two AEROS satellites, launched in 1972 and 1974. He was actively engaged in the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

(gold button 2007) and follow-ups. In the

International Union of Radio Science The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviated ''URSI'', after its French name, french: link=no, Union radio-scientifique internationale) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council for Science ( ...

(URSI) he served with

William Roy Piggott William Roy Piggott (18 July 1914 – 20 May 2008) was a student of Sir Edward Appleton who transferred a large group of German specialists from Austria into the British Zone of Occupation in Germany in 1945. He edited the still valid official b ...

as co-author of the booklet on

ionogram An ionosonde, or chirpsounder, is a special radar for the examination of the ionosphere. The basic ionosonde technology was invented in 1925 by Gregory Breit and Merle A. Tuve and further developed in the late 1920s by a number of prominent physi ...

reduction and was vice-chairman and chairman of the ionospheric committee 1966–72. He was the father and longtime chairman of the

International Reference Ionosphere International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) is a common permanent scientific project of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) started 1968/69. It is the international standard empirical model f ...

that since 1999 is International Standard. Rawer was

doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of the

University of Düsseldorf A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, corresponding member of the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm ( Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

and of "Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien". He died on 17 April 2018 in

March, Breisgau March is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History The four villages of Buchheim, Hugstetten, Neuershausen and Holzhausen merged in 1973 to the new community of March. Coat o ...

, two days before his 105th birthday.Notice from ''Badische Zeitung''
April 19, 2018.

References

Sources

* Karl Rawer: "Meine Kinder umkreisen die Erde" (autobiography). Herder, Freiburg i. Brsg., 159 S. 1986, * Bodo W. Reinisch: "Karl Rawer´s lfe and the history of the IRI". '' Adv. Space Res.'' 34, 1845R 2004 * Dieter Bilitza: "35 Years of International Reference Ionosphere - Karl Rawer´s legacy". ''

Adv. Radio Sci. ''Advances in Radio Science'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the German National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science. It covers radio science and radio engineering. It is abstracted and indexed i ...

'' 2, 283, 2004

External links

International Reference Ionosphere
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawer, Karl 1913 births 2018 deaths German centenarians Men centenarians German Roman Catholics 20th-century German physicists Radio frequency propagation Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Luftwaffe personnel of World War II People from Neunkirchen, Saarland