The Prince of Asturias Foundation
Guido Munch was born in San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas (Mexico), on 9th June 1921. He graduated in Civil Engineering and Mathematics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and subsequently earned a Master’s degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Chicago.
He started working in the field of astrophysics with the Nobel Prize winner R. Chandrasekhar. His research work has developed in various fields, such as the theory of stellar atmospheres, stellar spectroscopy, interstellar matter, emission nebulae, galactic structure and solar physics. His research on the planetary system has provided data of great interest. He has been an astronomer and lecturer at the observatories of Mexico, Yerkes (USA), the California Institute of Technology, the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre of Almeria and the Astrophysical Institute of the Canaries, as well as director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg (Germany). He has also taken part in NASA space missions on-board the Mariner, Viking and Pioneer spacecraft. He has published more than one hundred and twenty books and articles, the most noteworthy among which are: Interstellar Absorption Lines in Distant Stars (1957), The Theory of Stellar Model Atmospheres (1960), An Analysis of the Spectrum of Mars (1964), Galactic Structure and Interstellar Absorption Lines (1965), The Structure of the Atmosphere on the Major Planets (1969) and Helium Abundance on Jupiter (1973).
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and a founder member of the Third World Academy of Sciences (Trieste, 1982). He holds the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Merit (1968), is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Heidelberg (Germany) and has received an honorary doctorate from the Mexican National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics. From 17th to 21st April 1989, the International Astronomical Union held a special symposium in his honour in the city of Granada under the title “Guido’s Jubilee”.
