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Membro della SCNAT

Gli obiettivi principali della Società svizzera di astrofisica e astronomia (Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy (SSAA)) sono la promozione della scienza e della ricerca nel settore dell’astrofisica e dell’astronomia, lo sviluppo della reciproca informazione e collaborazione tra gli astronomi svizzeri nonché il sostegno delle loro comuni iniziative scientifiche.

Immagine: ESO

Edith Alice Müller Award

Edith Alice Müller
Immagine: SSAA

In 2018, to celebrate the half-century of the SSAA, the Committee decided to create a yearly award rewarding an astronomer author of an excellent PhD thesis.

It is named the Edith Alice Müller Award in recognition for the scientific research done by Edith Alice Müller (1918-1995) on the composition of the Sun and for her involvement in promoting Astrophysics at the international level. Among other achievements, she was the first woman to be appointed General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union.

Edith Alice Müller was born on February 5 1918 in Madrid (Spain). She attended the German School there, and after having obtained her Maturity diploma in June 1936, she went to the University of Zürich. In 1943, she presented a PhD thesis on “The application of group theory and structural analysis to the Moorish adornments of the Alhambra in Granada”.

From 1946 to 1962, she held various research positions at the Swiss Federal Observatory in Zürich, the Cambridge University Observatory (UK), the Michigan University Observatory (USA),or the Basel University. In 1962 she came back in Switzerland, as Associate Professor both in the Geneva Observatory and the Neuchâtel University Observatory, and was promoted full Professor in the University of Geneva in 1972, position she held until she officially retired in 1983.

Her main research achievements were in the domain of solar spectroscopy, among which the famous GMA paper (Goldberg, Müller, and Aller 1960) on the abundances of the elements in the solar atmosphere. Another very important research concerned the effects of deviations from the local thermodynamic equilibrium on the solar abundances (Müller & Mutschlecner 1964).

Besides her research activities, Edith Müller was very much involved in the International Astronomical Union where she served successively as Secretary, member of the Organising Committee, Vice-President and President of various commissions, and from 1976 to 1979 as IAU General Secretary.

She died on July 24 1995 from a heart attack during holidays in Spain.

Source: Yves Chmielewski, in Remembering Edith Alice Müller, Springer 1998

Public

Students having presented a PhD thesis in Switzerland during the previous year (for example the award 2019 will be given to a PhD thesis defended in 2018).

Objective

To promote high quality astrophysical theses in Switzerland and support the access to this field of science for both female and male young researchers.

Edith Alice Müller Award
Immagine: SSAA

Prize

The awardee will receive a sum of CHF 1000 and a diploma.

Application Procedure

Application for the Edith Alice Müller Award must be sent to before the third week of June (deadline for receiving applications each year is June 15).

The application must include:

  • a letter of the thesis supervisor that describes the thesis;
  • the thesis manuscript;
  • the CV of the candidate;
  • a list of publications of the candidate.

The SSAA will announce the name of the awardee during the third week of September. The award will be officially delivered at the yearly General Assembly of the Society.

15 June 2025

Past Awards