Petr Vaníček | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1935-07-18)18 July 1935 (age 90) |
| Nationality | Czech-Canadian |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Alma mater | Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Czech Technical University |
| Known for | Vaníček method PreciseGeoid Canadian Geophysical Union UN GALOS |
| Awards | J. Tuzo Wilson Medal |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geodesy &Geophysics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Anharmonic Analysis and Its Applications in Geophysics (1967) |
| Academic advisors | Emil Buchar |
| Notable students | Attila Komjathy,Caltech Steven DeLoach,USACE[1] HE Galo Carrera |
| Website | www2 |
Petr Vaníček (born 18 July 1935) is aCzech Canadiangeodesist and theoreticalgeophysicist who has made important breakthroughs in theory ofspectrum analysis andgeoid computation.
One of Vaníček's main contributions of general relevance isleast-squares spectral analysis,[2] also called the Vaníček method[3] and the Gauss-Vaniček method[4] — afrequency spectrum computation method published in 1969[5] and 1971.[6] It is based on aleast-squares fit ofsinusoids to the data samples, and mitigates the drawbacks of applyingFourier analysis for analyzing long incomplete data records such as mostnaturaldatasets.[7] Unlike with Fourier analysis, data need not be equally spaced to use Vaníček analysis.
His discoveries in theoreticalgeophysics, the "precise geoid solution"[8] in particular, enable millimetre-to-centimetreaccuracy in geoidcomputation, an-order-of-magnitude improvement from previous solutions.[9][10][11]
Vaníček initiated the establishing of theCanadian Geophysical Union in 1974, and served as theUnion's president between 1987 and 1989.
He was the firstchairperson of theUnited Nationscommittee for Geodetic Aspects of theLaw of the Sea (GALOS), founded inEdinburgh,Scotland, by theInternational Association of Geodesy (IAG) in1989.[12][13]
This and other activities led to creation of the technical supplement to the Law of the Sea, TALOS (Manual on Technical Aspects of the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea) in 1982, which is on a regular re-issuing schedule by the UN. TheGeodetic Commentary to the TALOS Manual, largely prepared by Vaníček and published by theInternational Hydrographic Organization in 1996, was incorporated into the Manual.[14]
The bookGeodesy: The Concepts,[15] by Vaníček and Krakiwsky, now translated into several languages, is a standard text for both undergraduate and graduate courses ingeodesy worldwide.[16][17]
Vaníček also served aseditor-in-chief andpeer-reviewer for severalscientific journals as well as on numerous scientific boards and committees.[18]
Petr Vaníček is a member of theInternational Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, of theAmerican Geophysical Union, and of theCzechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU). He was awarded the Senior Distinguished Scientist Fellowship by theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation, and was a Senior Visiting Scientist with the U.S.National Academy of Sciences.[19]
Over the course of his career, he taught or performed research at universities and labs across six continents, including theRoyal Institute of Technology and theUSGS.[19]
In 2022 he received the Medal of theLearned Society of the Czech Republic.[20][21]
Petr Vaníček was awarded theJ. Tuzo Wilson Medal in 1996, the highest recognition by theCanadian Geophysical Union, for his outstanding contributions to Canadian geophysics.[22]
Since he was born into a typicalbourgeois family, Petr Vaníček's wife and children requested to leaveCommunist Czechoslovakia during the brief but liberal times ofPrague Spring. They were grantedexit visa just before theSoviet invasion of 1968. The family reunited in England where he was staying on a 1967 Senior Research Fellowship at theUniversity of Liverpool. Together, they immigrated to Canada in 1969. He has one daughter and two sons.[19]
He retired asProfessor Emeritus in 2002, after more than thirty years of teaching at theUniversity of Toronto and theUniversity of New Brunswick. He lives inFredericton, Canada.[19]
| Professional and academic associations | ||
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| Preceded by | President of the Canadian Geophysical Union 1987–1989 | Succeeded by Douglas Edwin Smylie |
