IIASA is proud to announce that Christian Koeberl, IIASA Council member for Austria, has been awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class.
© Silveri | IIASA
The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art is awarded by the Austrian President on the recommendation of the Federal Government or a government-authorized Federal Minister. The awards honor Austrians and leading foreign figures who have “distinguished themselves and earned general acclaim through especially superior creative and commendable services in the areas of the sciences or the arts.”
Koeberl has been serving as IIASA Council member for Austria since January 2019. Apart from his continued involvement at IIASA, he is the former Director General of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, where he was responsible for increasing the quality and visibility of research at the museum, providing a larger number and greater variation of special exhibitions covering modern natural sciences, and renovating and updating the museum’s permanent exhibitions. He is a full professor of geosciences (planetary geology) at the University of Vienna, where he is also the deputy head of the Department of Lithospheric Research. He is a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where he heads the Committee on Geosciences. He has written or edited 23 books, published more than 510 peer-reviewed papers, and has received numerous awards including the Novartis Award for Chemistry, the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society, and the Meteoritical Society's Service Award.
Koeberl is renowned for his research around processes and rocks related to meteor impact cratering through detailed and multidisciplinary investigations (mainly using geochemistry, petrography, and mineralogy, but also field geology and geophysics), as well as the development and testing of new methods that can be applied for such studies. He has made valuable contributions to the literature on a large number of impact structures, particularly in terms of impact geochemistry, and has in some cases contributed to the discovery of previously unknown impact craters. He even has an asteroid named in his honor – asteroid 15963 also known as “Koeberl”.
The Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class will be formally conferred on Koeberl by the Austrian Federal Minister for Education, Science, and Research, Martin Polaschek, during a ceremony on Monday, 24 October 2022.
IIASA extends its sincere congratulations to Christian Koeberl on this extraordinary achievement.
News
08 April 2025
IIASA Director General supports ambitious Austrian tree-planting initiative
A new climate initiative launched in Vorarlberg, Austria, aims to plant 50 trees for every child born in the region. The initiative, which will run under the patronage of IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber, was introduced on 3 April in Rankweil.
11 March 2025
IIASA provides insights on research, technology, and innovation to Austrian federal states
IIASA contributed to the Austrian Bundesländerdialog — a forum bringing together the federal government, representatives of different states, and other interested institutions to discuss recent developments in research, technology, and innovation. It provided an important platform to increase IIASA’s visibility in the Austrian federal states and strengthen connections with key stakeholders in research and innovation.
05 March 2025
Co-creating a stakeholder-oriented climate risk service in Austria
IIASA, as a project partner, developed and applied a co-creation methodology to identify the key issues and requirements of a drought climate risk service for Austria, together with stakeholders from relevant disciplines. IIASA also led the development of a handbook on the co-creation methodology, documenting the lessons learned and recommendations for future projects beyond the scope of the project.