Johannes Andersen 1943-2020

07.05.2020

The Faculty mourns the loss of a long-time member of the Faculty's Scientific Advisory Board: Johannes Andersen passed away on April 28, 2020. The Danish astronomer worked at the Copenhagen University until his retirement; from 1997 to 2000 he was General secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Johannes Andersen was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy from 2005 to 2013. The Faculty members and collegues remember him as an outstanding and dedicated scientist and a warm-hearted person.
Until his retirement, Johannes Andersen worked at the Niels Bohr Institute at the Copenhagen University. During his career he also spent time at the Observatoire de Marseille, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. He was director or the Nordic Optical Telescope between 2002 and 2012 and also closely associated with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in many ways. From 1997 to 2000 he served as General secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

As the IAU writes in a detailed and touching obituary, Johannes Andersen over the years found a strong supporter and partner-in-spirit in his wife, Birgitta Nordström, with whom he shared not only a long marriage but also many scientific endeavours. Our thoughts are now with his wife and their three children, Karin, Ulla and Erik in these trying days.

Obituary Johannes Andersen by the International Astronomical Union

Johannes Andersen (C) Madsen/IAU

Johannes Andersen in his office at Copenhagen University. (C) Madsen/IAU