Munk, Walter (1917-)

INFLUENTIAL PHYSICAL oceanographer and geo-physicist, Professor Emeritus of Geophysics and Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations Oceanography Chair at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. He made fundamental discoveries in different fields such as the effect of the moon on tides and the circulation of the deep sea. Munk also had a leading role in devising a method for calculating the course of long-term climatic changes related to global warming. In 1999, he became the first in his field to be awarded the Kyoto Prize by the Inamori Foundation.

Born in Vienna, Austria, on October 19, 1917, Munk was sent to preparatory school in New York in 1932. He applied for American citizenship in 1939, after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. ...