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]