On 11 May 2018, a high-level symposium was held in Kiel in memory of Eugen Seibold, at which AWI Director Prof. Antje Boetius gave a keynote speech. Marine geologist Seibold has trained and shaped generations of marine researchers, and would have turned 100 this year. Following the symposium, a new research vessel was christened ‘Eugen Seibold’.
"Eugen Seibold was a visionary. It is largely thanks to him that an efficient and internationally recognized marine research sector has been established in Germany,” says Professor Gerald Haug, climate geologist and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. The MPI will be the operator of the research yacht, which was christened after the symposium on the name ‘Eugen Seibold’.
Symposium speaker and AWI Director Antje Boetius is a geomicrobiologist and as well versed in geology as the former AWI Director Jörn Thiede, who moderated the event as the founding director of GEOMAR.
Godmother is Dr Ilse Seibold, micropaleontologist, science historian and widow of the famous marine geologist. The ‘Eugen Seibold’ is a new research yacht specialized in the collection and analysis of seawater, plankton and air samples. The special feature: As a sailing ship with a hull made of plastic and a specially developed hybrid drive, the ‘Eugen Seibold’ can take samples completely free of contamination. In addition, the samples can in some cases already be evaluated on site in a clean room laboratory.
The first research voyage of the 22-metre-long yacht is already planned for the winter of 2018 in the North Atlantic, during which the upper 500 to 1,000 metres of the ocean will be sampled with nets, pumps and water samplers.
