Year Inducted: 1978
Prof. Dreschhoff received her Ph.D. in Physics at the Technical University, Braunschweig, in 1972. After arriving at KU from Germany, where she had worked as Staff Scientist at the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology of Germany, she became involved in the Apollo Program. A few years later Dr. Dreschhoff spent ten summers in Antarctica from 1976 to 1986 using gamma-ray spectrometers in field surveys to evaluate the uranium resource potential of Antarctica. Ultimately she spent a total of twenty field seasons and expeditions in both polar regions. Dreschhoff’s current work is largely based on the data collected from Antarctic and Greenland ice cores involving solar physics, and this work represents a significant advance in our understanding of the cosmic radiation which impinges on the Earth. This information has been and continues to be useful to Space Exploration with regard to the effects of solar particle radiation on spacecraft.
Accomplishments
Named to the Women’s hall of Fame at the University of Kansas, 1978
Has been awarded the Antarctic Service Medal of the United States, 1979
Has been awarded the group Achievement Award by NASA, 1983
University MASUA Honor Lecturer, 1987-1988
A mountain has been named for Gisela Dreschhoff by U.S. Board on Geographic Names: DRESCHHOFF PEAK,
Latitude 78 degrees South, Longitude 161 degrees East, Antarctica, 1997
Nominated to the Board of Governors of the America Polar Society, 1997
Served as President of the American Polar Society, 2000-2003
Dreschhoff holds a private pilot’s license for aircraft operation since 1983
Membership in Societies:
Fellow, Explorers Club
American Physical Society
American Geophysical Union
American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
Sigma Xi
The Antarctican Society
American Polar Society
Listed in Who’s Who:
Who’s Who in the World, 1987
Who’s Who in frontiers of Science and Technology, 1985
©
The University of Kansas Medical Center