Guido Münch

Guido Münch Paniagua
Born	(1921-06-09)June 9, 1921 San Cristóbal de las Casas
Died	April 29, 2020(2020-04-29)(aged 98) Pasadena
Nationality	Mexican
Education	National Autonomous University of Mexico University of Chicago
Awards	Guggenheim Fellowship NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal American Academy of Arts and Sciences National Academy of Sciences
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy Astrophysics
Institutions	Tacubaya Observatory Yerkes Observatory Caltech Max Planck Institute for Astronomy University of Heidelberg Calar Alto Observatory Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Thesis	Problems of Radiative Transfer in the Theory of Stellar Atmospheres(1946)
Doctoral advisor	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Doctoral students	Judith Gamora Cohen James Gunn Robert A. Parker Mónica Rodríguez Virginia Trimble

Guido Münch Paniagua(June 9, 1921 – 29 April 2020) was a Mexican astronomer andastrophysicist.

Biography

Münch was born inSan Cristobal de las Casas,Mexico.He studied civil engineering and mathematics at theNational Autonomous University of Mexico,receiving his bachelor's degree in civil engineering and mathematics in 1939 and his master's degree in mathematics in 1944.He then went to theUniversity of Chicago,where he was published inAstronomy and Astrophysicsin 1946 ( "Problems of radiative transfer in the theory of stellar atmospheres" ).He then went to the Tacubaya Observatory of the University of Mexico, but returned to the University of Chicago in 1947 as an instructor, and became an assistant professor in 1949. There he worked at theYerkes Observatory,and worked with astrophysicistSubrahmanyan Chandrasekharon radiative transfer in stars. He also worked withGerhard HerzbergandWilliam Wilson Morganon astronomic spectroscopy. He moved toCaltechin 1951, becoming professor there and working at theMount WilsonandPalomarobservatories.

From 1977 to 1991, Münch was Director at theMax Planck Institute for Astronomyin Heidelberg, in addition to serving as professor at theUniversity of Heidelberg.He also worked at the joint German-SpanishCalar Alto Observatory,and at theInstituto de Astrofísica de Canariasin Tenerife (from 1992 to 1996).

Münch studied the theory of stellar atmospheres, stellar spectroscopy, interstellar matter, the spectroscopy ofnebulae,the structure of galaxies, solar physics andplanetology.He worked in both observation and theory.

He died in April 2020 at the age of 98.

Awards

In 1944, 1945 and 1958 Münch was named aGuggenheim Fellow.He was a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences(1962), theNational Academy of Sciences(1967) and in 1982 he became a founding member of theThird World Academy of Sciences.He was an honorary doctor of theNational Mexican Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics.

In 1968, he received theNASA Medal of Exceptional Scientific Meritfor his involvement in theMariner,VikingandPioneermissions on infrared radiometry. (His work on the Martian atmosphere led to a critically important downward revision in estimates of the planet's atmospheric density.) In 1989, he was awarded a Prince of Asturias Award, and in the same year, theInternational Astronomical Unionorganized a conference in his honor in Granada. In 1998 he received the SpanishCivil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise,with the Grand Cross.

His doctoral advisees have includedJudith Gamora Cohen,Jim Gunn,Robert A. Parker,Mónica Rodríguez,andVirginia Trimble.

Writings

• "Interstellar Absorption Lines in Distant Stars", Astrophys. J., 1957
• "The Theory of Model Stellar Model Atmospheres", in Jesse GreensteinStellar Atmospheres,University of Chicago Press 1960
• "An Analysis of the Spectrum of Mars", Astrophys. Journal, vol. 139, 1964
• "Galactic Structure and Interstellar Absorption Lines", in Adriaan Blaauw, Maarten SchmidtGalactic Structure,University of Chicago Press, 1965
• "The Structure of the Atmosphere on the Major Planets", with Laurence M. Trafton,Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences,vol. 26, 1969, p. 813
• "Helium Abundance on Jupiter", with Donald M. Hunten,Space Science Reviews,vol. 14, 1973, p. 433-443

External links

• Guggenheim Foundation profile
• AIP oral history transcriptArchived2012-10-13 at theWayback Machine
• Príncipe de Asturias Prize page