Prof. Dr. Hermann Drewes

Career

Hermann Drewes studied geodesy at the Technical University of Hannover from 1965 to 1970 and subsequently served as a research assistant and senior engineer at the university’s Institute of Theoretical Geodesy. In 1975, he earned his doctorate with a dissertation on regional geoid determination and the prediction of gravity anomalies. Another focus of his research was gravity measurements in the tectonically active zone along the North American-Eurasian plate boundary in Iceland and the Aegean Orogen in Greece. From 1977 to 1979, he was a professor at the Universidad del Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and subsequently moved to the German Geodetic Research Institute (DGFI) in Munich, where he was elected director in 1994 and appointed honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich. He also lectured at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich.

His primary research focus at the DGFI was initially on Earth gravity measurements (gravimetry), which was expanded in 1979 to include geodynamics and plate kinematics using satellite geodesy. Since 1994, research has focused on geodetic reference systems and their implementation on a global and regional scale. This involves calculating and interpreting epoch-specific global solutions of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) and regional reference systems, particularly for the Americas (Sistema de Referencia Geocéntrico para las Américas, SIRGAS).

Functions

• Secretary/President of the Commission on the International Coordination of Space Techniques for Geodesy and Geodynamics (CSTG) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) (1995–2003)
• President of Commission 1 “Reference Frames” of the IAG (2003–2007); IAG Representative to the Group on Earth Observation (GEO, 2004–2009); Secretary General of the IAG (2007–2019)
• Representative of the “International Union for Geodesy and Geophysics” (IUGG) to the “United Nations Cartographic Bureau” (2003–2007)
• IUGG Representative to the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH, 2003–2011)
• IUGG Representative to the United Nations Geospatial Information Section (2015–2019)

Awards

• Fellow of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG, 1999); Levallois Medal 2023 of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG, 2023)
• Cavaleiro do Ordem do Mérito Cartográfico, Brazilian Society of Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2005)
• Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2007)
• Huesped de Honor Extraordinario, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (2010)
• Fellow of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG, 2019)