Diese Medaille - eingerichtet von der EGU-Division für Geodäsie - wird für hervorragende Leistungen auf dem Gebiet der Geodäsie verliehen. Die Vening Meinesz Medaille ist damit eine der höchsten Auszeichnungen, die in der europäischen Geodäsie vergeben wird. Harald Schuh erhielt die Medaille unter anderem aufgrund seiner Beiträge zur VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) und zur Erdrotationsforschung, aber auch für seinen aktiven Einsatz für internationale Organisationen wie der IAG (International Association of Geodesy) und der IAU (International Astronomical Union). (Die Laudatio im genauen Wortlaut weiter unten.)

Harald Schuh folgt damit bedeutenden GeodätInnen, die den Preis in den vergangenen Jahren erhalten haben: Reiner Rummel (1998), Any Cazenave (1999), Ivan I. Mueller (2000), George Balmino und Christoph Reigber (2002), Veronique Dehant (2003), John Wahr (2004), Martine Feissel-Vernier (2005), Gerhard Beutler (2006), Thomas Herring (2007), Carl-Christian Tscherning (2008), Susanna Zerbini (2009) sowie Philip Woodworth (2010).

Im Rahmen der Überreichung hielt Harald Schuh einen Vortrag mit dem Titel “VLBI: A fascinating tool for Geodesy and Astrometry“. In seiner Präsentation spannte er den Bogen vom ersten Nachweis der Plattentektonik mit VLBI zu Beginn der 1980er Jahre (zwischen den Stationen Haystack in Massachusetts und Onsala in Schweden) bis zu den aktuellen “VLBI2010“ Entwicklungen mit angestrebten globalen Genauigkeiten von 1 mm für die Positionen der VLBI-Stationen. Außerdem zeigte Harald Schuh sehr deutlich die Bedeutung der VLBI für ein besseres Verständnis des Systems Erde und der Beobachtung von Phänomenen der globalen Klimaänderung. Der Preisträger bedankte sich in seiner Rede bei den vielen Weggefährten in den letzten 30 Jahren und besonders auch bei seinem Team an der TU Wien.

Resumé (Laudatio, gehalten von Prof. Susanna Zerbini, Bologna):
Harald Schuh has been working in the field of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) modelling and analysis for almost 30 years. He has achieved a deep understanding in the complex dynamics of the Earth's motion with respect to the distant quasar system and the related processes covering Earth orientation, geophysics and astrophysics. Remarkable is his extensive work in determining Earth rotation, for which application of VLBI is indispensable. Moreover, he used VLBI – recently as president of the IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) – for the realization of a kinematic inertial reference system and has pushed the steady improvement of VLBI measurement technology and analysis. Another example is given by the studies of his group to achieve better VLBI modelling, e.g., of tropospheric effects (“Vienna mapping function”). He investigated the impact of Earth orientation changes on celestial reference frames. This he did by networking with partners in the respective fields in Europe and worldwide. Thus, he has been in close collaboration with a large number of Earth system researchers over many years and has achieved a high international profile for his TU Vienna group. He also took care of the observational side by supporting the VLBI observatories in all countries. In this respect, he has also worked on studies focusing on the scientific potential and realization of future VLBI systems, by foreseeing the use of transponders on satellites or lunar orbiters as well as improving telescopes on Earth. Schuh has published extensively. He is a well-known contributor to the geodesy community and has been member of many international scientific working groups of the IAG (International Association of Geodesy) and of the IAU (International Astronomical Union). He has organized various sessions at international conferences such as EGU. During the EGU general assemblies in Vienna, he has been essentially responsible for high acceptance in the geodetic community, also providing generous support by hosting many splinter meetings at the Technical University of Vienna every year. Following the tradition of Vening-Meinesz, Schuh has always been very eager to integrate international and inter-disciplinary cooperation among scientists. One of his basic principles is to pave the way for young scientists and to provide a platform for scientific exchange. In summary, Harald Schuh is a high profile scientist who has made important contributions to space geodetic science leading to significant progress in this field.