ELGRA MEDALS
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Julius Siekmann
The ELGRA medal is awarded to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Julius Siekmann (Baden-Baden, Germany)
for his scientific achievements in fluid dynamic research under microgravity
conditions. J. Siekmann received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics
from the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe in 1955. Since 1958 he worked in the
United States at MIT, UCLA, University of Florida, and Georgia Tech. as a scientist,
lecturer, and full professor. Returning to Germany in 1970, he joined the Technische
Hochschule Darmstadt where he was appointed full professor. From 1978 J. Siekmann
joined the faculty of the University of Essen from which he became professor
emeritus in 1990. Since 1968 J. Siekmann devoted most of his activity to microgravity
research. He contributed significantly to the problem of sloshing in tanks,
the dynamics of rotating fluids, the oscillations and movement of bubbles, capillary
effects, and Marangoni convection. J. Siekmann is well known for his characteristic
short and apt remarks which are wise and amusing alike. Due to his warm heart
for students he very much fostered the younger generation and encouraged many
of his disciples to continue their work in microgravity fluid mechanics.
H.
C. Kuhlmann
Dr. Wolfgang Briegleb
The ELGRA
Medal is awarded to Dr. Wolfgang Briegleb (Wachtburg, Germany) for his achievements
in space and gravitational biology. W. Briegleb received his PH.D in Biology
(Zoology) from the University Munich. In 1962 he entered the Institute of
Flight Medicine in Bonn (which later became DLR) and stayed there until his
retirement in 1994. Already in the early 60es W. Briegleb recognized the need
to study the influence of weight-lessness on living cells. As access to real
weightlessness always was very limited, W. Briegleb was the first to use a
fast rotating clinostat (according to Muller's clinostat who used it for studies
on humans) for research with single mammalian cells and unicellular organisms
in functional weightlessness. In his group two fast rotating clinostat microscopes
(CLIMIs) were constructed which were used by many scientists. Later W. Briegleb
proposed the use of a slow rotating centrifuge micros-cope (NIZEMI) for threshold
studies in space. NIZEMI was build for ESA by Dornier Systems, and has been
flown on the IML II-Spacelab Mission. W. Briegleb devoted most of his work
to the study of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum and the unicellular
organism Paramecium under different gravity conditions.
M. Cogoli-Greuter
