Biographical Summary
KLAUS WYRTKI
Born: February 7, 1925 in Tarnowitz, Germany
Married. Children: daughter born 1954; son born 1962
Naturalized U.S. citizen, January 5, 1977
Education
University of Marburg, Germany, 1945-48
Mathematics, physics, geography
University of Kiel, Germany, 1948-1950
Oceanography, physics, mathematics
May 20, 1950 - promotion to Doctor of Natural Sciences with Magna Cum Laude
Experience
1950-51 German Hydrographic Institute, Hamburg
1951-54 German Research Council, post-doctoral Research Fellowship at the
University of Kiel
1954-57 Head of the Institute of Marine Research, Djakarta, Indonesia
1958-61 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Division
of Fisheries and Oceanography, Sydney, Australia; Senior Research
Officer; later, Principal Research Officer
1961-64 University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Associate
Research Oceanographer; Research Oceanographer
1964-92 University of Hawaii, Professor of Oceanography
1993 University of Hawaii, Professor Emeritus
Membership in Professional Societies
American Geophysical Union
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Geographical Society
American Meteorological Society
Hawaiian Academy of Science
The Oceanography Society
Pacific Science Association
Professional Activities
Editor of Atlas on Physical Oceanography of the International Indian Ocean
Expedition
Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Physical Oceanography 1971-79
Chairman, North Pacific Experiment (NORPAX) 1974-1980
Member, SCOR Working Group on the Prediction of El Niņo
Member, Science Working Group on the Topography Experiment (TOPEX)
Chairman, IAPSO Committee on Climate Changes and the Ocean
Member, NOAA Panel on Climate and Global Change
Invited speaker at numerous international and national symposia and conferences.
Participant in numerous international conferences and member of scientific panels of
international organizations such as:
Intergovernmental Ocean Commission (IOC)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
International Oceanographic Data Exchange (IODE)
UNESCO Special Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR)
International Association of the Physical Science of the Ocean (IAPSO)
Awards
Excellence in Research Award, University of Hawaii, 1980
Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Sciences, University of Miami, 1981
Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 1982
Maurice Ewing Medal, American Geophysical Union, 1989
Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 1991
Sverdrup Gold Medal, American Meteorological Society, 1991
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, ARCS Foundation Inc., 1991
Albert Defant Medal, Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft, 1992
Provided by Margaret Swan