| Authorised form of name | Munk; Walter Heinrich (1917 - 2019) |
| Dates | 1917 - 2019 |
| Nationality | American |
| Place of birth | Austria |
| Date of birth | 19/10/1917 |
| Place of death | La Jolla, California, USA |
| Date of death | 08/02/2019 |
| Occupation | Oceanographer |
| Research field | Geophysics |
| Climate change |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 08/04/1976 |
| Age at election | 58 |
| RSActivity | Lectures:
Bakerian 1986, on 'Acoustic monitoring of ocean gyres' |
| OtherInfo | Walter Munk was a physical oceanographer who made significant contributions to our understanding of the oceans. His many areas of interest included ocean swells, tides, waves and wind-driven circulations; as well as collecting large-scale current and temperature measurements using the technique of ocean acoustic tomography.
Walter studied irregularities in the Earth’s rotation, along with helping to explain tidal locking, the phenomenon which keeps the near side of the moon facing the Earth. He proposed Project Mohole — an attempt to bore through the Earth’s crust into the mantle that later inspired the Deep Sea Drilling Project.
Over his lifetime, Walter received numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the US National Medal of Science in 1983; the Kyoto Prize in 1999; and, in 1993, the first Munk Award, which was named in his honour. In addition to being a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, he was elected as a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Professor Walter Munk ForMemRS died on 8 February 2019. |
| Source | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Munk
References:
Carl Wunsch, 'Walter Munk' in Nature 567, 176 (2019), doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-00750-5 (obituary)
Ashley Yeager, 'Walter Munk, "Einstein of the Oceans", Dies' in The Scientist 12 Feb 2019, https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/walter-munk--einstein-of-the-oceans--dies-65458 (obituary)
Enily Langer, 'Walter Munk Remembered:Oceanographer whose wisdom on waves helped the Allied landings of WWII'' in The Independent, 15 Feb 2019 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/walter-munk-oceans-oceanographer-waves-d-day-landing-anzio-allied-second-world-war-a8776256.html (obituary) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/5080918 |
| Code | NA4092 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1976/42 | Munk, Walter Heinrich: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1976 |