M.S. Potgieter

Space physics, and in particular cosmic rays (charged astroparticles), has formed the foundation for Marius Potgieter’s research. His numerical models for cosmic ray propagation, acceleration and modulation in the heliosphere, the influence sphere of the Sun, can be applied in fields beyond space physics including numerical and computer science and engineering. He obtained his PhD from Potchefstroom University and began his career as a research physicist as part of the National Antarctic Expedition in 1976. He has retired as Professor of Physics at North-West University (NWU) in 2018. He also worked in various capacities at the University of New Hampshire, University of Maryland, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the USA, at SACLAY-Paris in France, the International Space Science Institute (ISSI-Bern) in Switzerland and at the INFN in Trieste, Italy. He had productive collaborations with members of NASA’s Pioneer and Voyager Space Missions, ESA’s SOHO and Ulysses Space Missions, and the Italian/Russian PAMELA Space Mission for the detection of cosmic anti-particles as signatures of Dark Matter. He has co-authored 218 refereed journal publications and 168 conference publications. He supervised 11 postdoctoral fellows and 31 postgraduate physics students. He was a guest editor for African Skies and Advances in Space Research. He was a member of the American Geophysical Union and the SA Institute of Physics, among others, and an associate member of the SA Institute for Theoretical Physics. He organized several international workshops and symposia and served as scientific advisor to numerous international conferences. He was the secretary of IUPAP’s C4 commission on Cosmic Rays and represented SA on COSPAR’s council for two terms. Among his accolades are awards for Excellence in Teaching and Leadership from NWU, and the Havenga Price from the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. He has been rated an A1 scientist by the SA National Research Foundation. Presently, he is affiliated to the IEAP, CA-University zu Kiel, Germany and associated with the SDIAT in Jinan, China.