The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) offers its sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Professor Dr Karl Martin Menten, who has died at the age of 67.
Professor Menten, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, was made an Honorary Fellow of the RAS in 2012.
His research spanned a wide range of astrophysical topics, from the birth of stars to their end of evolution, and star formation in the Milky Way to the Early Universe.
Professor Menten studied Physics and Astronomy at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn and was awarded his PhD in 1987, with a dissertation on “Interstellar Methanol towards Galactic HII Regions”.
He went on to work as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard College Observatory at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and later as radio astronomer and senior radio astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Professor Menten returned to Germany in 1996, when he was appointed scientific member of the Max Planck Society and director for Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronomy at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.
Fellow directors at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy – Professors Michael Kramer, Amélie Saintonge and J. Anton Zensus – paid tribute to Professor Menten, calling him a "towering figure in modern astronomy".
They said his achievements were "unparalleled", adding that he had "inspired a generation of scientists and revitalised radio astronomy."
Professor Mike Lockwood, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: "Karl Menten’s discoveries opened up a rich new area of astronomy, one that inspired a great many young scientists and opened up careers for them.
"He found many applications of the discoveries, such as determining the distance to the Orion Nebula and advancing knowledge of stellar mass loss and interstellar medium enrichment by using masers to study red giants near the Galactic center.
"He is truly a great figure in the history of astronomy and will be hugely missed."
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Notes for editors
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organises scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognises outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 4,000 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others.
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