Walter Zürn (born August 21, 1937) is a renowned German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

seismologist 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 ...

. 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 named in his honor.

Education

Zurn studied physics in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

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 ...

and wrote his thesis at the "Institute of Metal Physics".

Career

After graduation, he spent four years at the "University of California" (UCLA).

Antarctic research

From 1971 to 1972, Zurn was Science Manager at the

Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is a science and technology in the United States, United States scientific research station at the South Pole of the Earth. It is the List of extreme points of the United States, southernmost point under ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. He said of the station, :"This spot at the bottom of the world is a good observation post for numerous reasons including altitude, high magnetic latitude, remoteness from human interference and the ocean."

Research in Germany

Walter Zürn returned to Germany in 1974 and joined the newly established German Geophysical Society, where he worked at the Universities of

and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. In the 1980s, he collaborated with Gerhard Müller on groundbreaking experiments testing

Newton's law of universal gravitation Newton's law of universal gravitation describes gravity as a force by stating that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is Proportionality (mathematics)#Direct proportionality, proportional to the product ...

. In recognition of his exceptional contributions to geophysics, Zürn was awarded the inaugural Rebeur-Paschwitz Prize by the German Geophysical Society in 2004.Laudatio zur Verleihung des Rebeur-Paschwitz-Preises
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Honors

*Antarctic Medal of Merit of the United States (1976) *Rebeur-Pashtun Prize of German Geophysical Society (2004)

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurn, Walter 1937 births Living people German geophysicists Seismologists