Gerhard Müller (November 25, 1940 – July 9, 2002) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

who specialized in

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

. Gerhard Müller was born in 1940 at the foot of the

Swabian Alps The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

, in

Schwäbisch Gmünd Schwäbisch Gmünd (, until 1934: Gmünd; Swabian: ''Gmẽẽd'' or ''Gmend'') is a city in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 60,000, the city is the second largest in the Ostalb district ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He studied geophysics at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

, graduating in 1965. He then moved to the

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology ('' Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small public university is regularly ranked amon ...

, where he served as scientific assistant from 1965 to 1969, and earned his Ph.D. in 1967. In 1969, he served at the Geophysical Institute at the

University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

with Karl Fuchs. Between 1971-72 worked at the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Thomas J. Watson Research Center The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. Its main laboratory is in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It also operates facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, ...

in Yorktown Heights,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and then at the

Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a research, research institution specializing in the Earth science and climate change. Though part of Columbia University, it is located on a separate closed campus in Palisades, New York. The obs ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. From 1979 until the end of his life, Müller was Professor of Mathematical Geophysics at the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

. In the 1980s, he worked with

Walter Zürn Walter Zürn (born August 21, 1937) is a renowned German physicist and seismologist. His field of expertise includes the study of tides and seismic vibrations. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, the Zurn Peak (1515m) in Antarctica was ...

on experiments on Newton's law of universal gravitation. Since 1981, Gerhard Müller was also associate editor of

Geophysical Journal International ''Geophysical Journal International'' (GJI) is a monthly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of geophysics. It is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of two learned societies: the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) ...

. In 1997 he was awarded the Emil Wiechert Medal.Emil-Wiechert-Medaille
Listing of awards of the Emil Wiechert Medal at the German Geophysical Society

Publications

* Karl Fuchs, Gerhard Müller: "Computation of Synthetic Seismograms with the Reflectivity Method and Comparison with Observations", ''Geophys. J.'' Roy. Astron. Soc., vol. 21, 1971, p. 261-283

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Gerhard German geophysicists 1940 births 2002 deaths Clausthal University of Technology alumni Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory people Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni