Ernst W. Schwiderski

Dr. Ernst W. Schwiderski

Dr. Ernst Walter Schwiderski was born on February 24, 1924 in Germany and received his doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in Mathematics in 1955 from the Technical University in Karlsruhe, Germany. After a brief period as Manager of Telephone Traffic Theory at Standard Electrik with the Stuttgart branch of AT&T, Dr. Schwiderski was recruited by the United States Navy in 1958 as Senior Research Mathematician at the U.S. Navel Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Dahlgren, Virginia, a post which he held for 32 years until he retired. During this time, Dr. Schwiderski was also an Adjunct Professor of Advanced Mathematics at American University in Washington D.C., University of Virginia, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. After retirement, he held a Research Contract with the Department of the Navy, and his passion for complex theoretical and applied mathematics was life-long. For the last 20 years, Dr. Schwiderski developed medical research expertise and worked with his daughter to his last day as a statistical and geometry consultant for areas like citicoline for stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and prostate health. He also gave several presentations to friends on his interests like ballet, opera, international scientific conventions, drug research, baseball logistics, and Albert Einstein, while enjoying gardening, swimming, puzzles, and traveling with family.

Dr. Schwiderski received various science awards from NASA, U.S. Navy, and NSWC, including the prestigious "Science and Technology Excellence Award" and "Admiral John A. Dahlgren Award", and he was the recipient of the U.S. Navy's first "Distinguished Achievement in Science Award" and Gold Medal. Dr. Schwiderski received awards from the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense for his resolution of stability issues with sonic boom resulting from blunt spacecraft in hypersonic flight. NASA awarded him for his contributions "to advancement of our understanding of the nature of the solid earth, the oceans, and the earth's gravity field, and for the effective use of space for solving problems on earth". The Schwiderski Ocean Tide Model was the world's first accurate open ocean tide model in a 300-year history of scientific pursuit, capable of predicting tides to an accuracy better than 2 inches (5 cm), which became the working standard for applications in all fields of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.

Dr. Schwiderski made numerous presentations at national and international meetings on 4 continents, and he was published in over 120 scientific journals, books, and technical reports including the first Atlas of Global Tides. He was a member of the American Mathematical and Physical Societies, American Geophysical Union and the International Commissions of Ocean Tides and Mean Sea Level, Earth Tides, and Earth Rotation. He was listed by nomination in American Men and Women of Science, Leaders in American Science, Community Leaders of America, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, Personalities of the South, Dictionary of International Biography, Two Thousand Men of Achievement, Men of Achievement, and in Deutchen Gelehrten-Kalendar.

Ernst is survived by his loving family including his "wind over his wings" wife of 51 years, Ellen N. Schwiderski of Manchester, NH, his daughter Dr. Ute E. Schwiderski and her husband Paul, a sister Waltraut Schwiderski of Germany, and several nephews and nieces of Germany.

Dr. Schwiderski passed away on November 7, 2010.

Ernst/Dad, you will be forever in our hearts.

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A favorite quote of Dad's:
By William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Brutus in Julius Caesar (the play, Act IV, Scene III):

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.