User:Bruckner130564/sandbox

Walther Schwarzacher (March 2, 1925 - March 7, 2018) was an Austrian geologist best known for his research in quantitative stratigraphy. He was a Corresponding Member of the Division of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the second recipient of the William Christian Krumbein Medal, the highest award of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG).

Early and personal life

Walther was born in Graz, Austria, the second son of the forensic medic Professor Walther Schwarzacher and his wife Hedwig. In 1938, following the Anschluss, Walther’s father lost his position at the University of Graz. As a result, Walther spent the war years with his family on the Wallersee, a lake near Salzburg. This was a time when he developed his interest in studying the local geology as he helped his father with scientific investigations. When the war ended, Walther moved to Innsbruck to study, completing both his undergraduate studies and his doctoral dissertation in a total of four years at the University of Innsbruck, under the supervision of Bruno Sander. He was then awarded a British Council Scholarship to the University of Cambridge. From Cambridge, Walther moved to Queen's University Belfast, where he was based for the remainder of his career. He married his wife, June, in 1963 and they had two sons, Walther and Martin.

Career

Walther joined Queen’s University Belfast as an assistant lecturer in 1949. He was promoted to Lecturer, Reader in 1964 and eventually Professor when he was appointed to a personal Chair in Mathematical Geosciences in 1977. In 1967/68 Walther was Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in the newly formed mathematical geology section at the Kansas Geological Survey. Walther also spent sabbaticals at the University of Kiel..

He wrote two influential books in the field of sedimentology. In the first book, he proposed stochastic models for sedimentary processes introducing applications of Markov chains and use of semi-Markov processes. The second contains his original evidence for Milankovitch cycles in the thicknesses of coupled limestone and marl beds. Walther also wrote many international publications and chapters.