Births on October 19

Walter Munk, Austrian-American oceanographer, author, and academic

Walter Heinrich Munk (October 19, 1917 – February 8, 2019) was an American physical oceanographer. One of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data, Munk is noted for creating fruitful areas of research that continue to be explored by other scientists. Munk's work garnered him many prestigious awards including the National Medal of Science, the Kyoto Prize, and induction to the French Legion of Honour.

Munk worked on a wide range of topics, including surface waves, geophysical implications of variations in the Earth's rotation, tides, internal waves, deep-ocean drilling into the sea floor, acoustical measurements of ocean properties, sea level rise, and climate change. Beginning in 1975, Munk and Carl Wunsch developed ocean acoustic tomography, to exploit the ease with which sound travels in the ocean and use acoustical signals for measurement of broad-scale temperature and current. In a 1991 experiment, Munk and his collaborators investigated the ability of underwater sound to propagate from the Southern Indian Ocean across all ocean basins. The aim was to measure global ocean temperature. The experiment was criticized by environmental groups, who expected that the loud acoustic signals would adversely affect marine life. Munk continued to develop and advocate for acoustical measurements of the ocean throughout his career.

Munk's career began before the outbreak of World War II and ended nearly 80 years later with his death in 2019. The war interrupted his doctoral studies at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps), and led to his participation in U.S. military research efforts. Munk and his doctoral advisor Harald Sverdrup developed methods for forecasting wave conditions which were used in support of beach landings in all theaters of the war. He was involved with oceanographic programs during the atomic bomb tests in Bikini Atoll. For most of his career, he was a professor of geophysics at Scripps at the University of California in La Jolla. Additionally, Munk and his wife Judy were active in developing the Scripps campus and integrating it with the new University of California, San Diego. Munk's career included a number of prestigious positions, including being a member of the JASON think tank, and holding the Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations Oceanography Chair.