Award Winning Geodetic Research Scientist
Internationally renowed scientist and professor, Petr Vanícek, Department of Geodesy amd Geomatics Engineering, University of New Brunswick, as conference convenor, addresses, in this view, the Geodetic Aspects of the Law of the Sea Conference, Bali, Indonesia, 1996. He came to Canada, 1969, as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Research Council, Ottawa. A native of Susice, Czechoslovakia, Dr. Vanícek, was a Senior Scientific Officer, Tidal Institute in Liverpool, U.K., 1967-69, during which time he received his Ph.D., Mathematical Physics, Czechoslovak Academy of Science. In 1969, he applied for a post-doctoral fellowship in Canada. In 1971, he became Associate Professor, University of New Brunswick, and Professor, 1976. In the early 1980s, he was Full Professor, and later Adjunct Professor in four departments: Survey Science, Geology, Physics, and Civil Engineering, University of Toronto. Numerous invitations as a visiting scientist and professor have included universities in Brazil, Germany, Sweden, the U.S.A., and South Africa. Author of over 300 articles, conference papers, and editor of the proceedings of numerous symposia, Dr. Vanícek, was author of Geodesy: the Concepts, now in its tenth printing, as a standard textbook used in Geodesy courses, worldwide. He has won numerous awards: Fellow, American Geophysical Union, the first Canadian scientist to receive the Humboldt Foundation “Distinguished Senior Scientist Award” (1990), and one of the few to receive the U.S. Academy of Science/ National Research Council “Visiting Senior Scientist Award.” He is also winner, the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal for out-standing contributions to Canadian geophysics, 1996, and was named O’Connor Fellow, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, 1998. A former President of the Canadian Geophysical Union and member of several other geophysical societies, Professor Vanícek, was awarded a Dr. Sc. (Mathematical and Physical Sciences) by the Czech Academy of Science, 1993, and has raised more than $2 million in support of his research. He was appointed Honorary Research Professor at U.N.B., 1999. [Photo, courtesy Professor Petr Vanícek]