AWI-Director elected member of the Russian

Professor Jorn Thiede, director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for
Polar and Marine Research, was elected as a foreign member of the
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) at a general assembly held on May 22nd.

Jorn Thiede is a palaeo-oceanographer, whose chief scientific interests
concern the earth's climate history. He is involved in numerous
international scientific projects, as well as being active in several
national and international committees. This level of commitment has
been recognised through many prizes and acknowledgements. He has
actively promoted German-Russian collaboration since 1989 and has
assisted many marine and polar research projects, including the
Otto-Schmidt Laboratory and the Masters course 'POMOR' at the University
of St. Petersburg. "Membership of the Academy is a great honour", said
Thiede, "and an accolade for German marine and polar research which is
of high international standard." Thiede is currently on board the
research ice-breaker "Polarstern" on an expedition in the Arctic.

Scientific academies have preserved international exchange of ideas,
crossing the boundaries between disciplines, faculties and universities,
for many years. The Russian Academy of Science was founded by Tzar
Peter the First in 1724. It promotes pure and applied research focusing
on technical, humanity and natural sciences, and cooperates with other
research organisations and colleges. The Nobel prize winners Alexander
Solzhenitzyn and Andre Sacharow were members of the Academy, along with
Pavel Czerenkov (Nobel Prize for physics, 1958) and Zhores Alferov
(Nobel Prize for physics, 2000). Famous German members include Klaus
von Klitzing, Juergen Habermas and Roman Herzog.
"We hope that the scientific ties between our two countries will be
strengthened", commented the president of the Academy, Yuri Sergeevitch
Osipow, in his congratulatory letter to Thiede on 26th May.

Bremerhaven, 30.5.03