At the 85th Annual Meeting of the German Geophysical Society (www.dgg-online.de), our colleague Vera Schlindwein was honoured with the „Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz Prize“ for her outstanding scientific achievements in the field of seismology. The DGG honours in particular „her work on seismicity on slow and ultra-slow spreading ridges and on seismology on hydrothermal systems. Vera Schlindwein is a pioneer of OBS seismology in Arctic regions and has played a key role in the development and use of new types of ice OBS.“ The namesake of this prize - Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz - studied astronomy and mathematics in Leipzig, Geneva and Berlin after graduating from high school. He worked at observatories in Berlin and Karlsruhe, where he was involved in observing the sun. One focus of his further work was the improvement of a horizontal pendulum, which was actually designed to measure changes in the direction of sound caused by movements of the earth´s crust under the influence of astronomical bodies. In 1889, Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz was able to use this to record the ground movement of an earthquake that occurred in Japan. This was the first ever recording of a distant earthquake, meaning that von Rebeur-Paschwitz can be regarded as one of the fathers of modern seismology.

The „Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz Prize“ has been awarded by the DGG since 2004.

Further information:

https://dgg-online.de/