Page 46 - Summer 2010

Acoustical News
Elaine Moran
Acoustical Society of America Melville, New York 11747
Leo Beranek
Leo Beranek to receive award from the Institute of Acoustics
Leo Beranek has been named the recipient of the Institute of Acoustics’ Peter Barnett Memorial Award. The award will be presented at this year’s Reproduced Sound conference in Cardiff in November.
Dr. Beranek, who became an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics in 2004, has been cited for the prestigious award in recognition of his “enormous contribution to the field of electro-acoustics, especially in relation to loudspeakers, intelligibility and signal processing.”
He received his Doctor of Science from Harvard University, in 1940, and served as Associate Professor of Communications Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1947 until 1985, and Technical Director of its Acoustic Laboratory. In 1948 he formed acoustic consulting firm Bolt, Beranek and Newman with MIT colleagues Richard Bolt and Robert Newman (now BBN Technologies).
Leo Beranek has received numerous awards from the Acoustical Society of America including the R. Bruce Lindsay Award (1944), Wallace Clement Sabine Medal (1961), the Gold Medal (1975), and Honorary Fellowship (1994). He has also served in many ASA elected and appointed positions including Vice President (1949) and President (1953).
The Institute of Acoustics is the UK’s professional body for those working in acoustics, noise and vibration. It was formed in 1974 and has about 3000 members.
Walter Munk awarded Crafoord Prize
Walter Munk was honored on 11 May by the King of Sweden with the 2010 Crafoord Prize during an award cere- mony at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden. The academy recognized Munk “for his pioneering and fundamental contributions to our understanding of ocean circulation, tides and waves, and their role in the Earth’s dynamics.” On May 12, Munk gave the 2010 Crafoord Prize Lecture, titled “The Sound of Climate Change” at the Geobiosphere Science Centre at Lund University. His lecture considered how climate change predictions depend on appro- priate atmosphere and ocean observations and how underwa- ter transmissions of sound over very long distances—some half way around the globe—can provide evidence of global ocean warming.
In its citation, the academy noted Munk’s contributions to several areas of oceanography, but especially to the under- standing of circulation and tides. The prize committee also recognized Munk's contributions to other fields such as biolo- gy and astronomy that were not even fully appreciated until several decades after he performed his original work.
Winners of the Crafoord Prize receive $500,000. The prize fund was established in 1980 by a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from Anna-Greta and Holger Crafoord. The Crafoord Prize was awarded for the first time in 1982 and recognizes achievement in astronomy and math- ematics and biosciences in addition to geosciences. Each dis- cipline is recognized annually in rotating fashion. The prize also periodically recognizes achievement in the field of pol- yarthritis.
Walter Munk received a Ph.D. in oceanography in 1947 from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and has spent his entire professional career at Scripps. In 1947 he became an
Walter Munk
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