Karl Rawerʹs life and the history of IRI Original Research Article

This laudation is given in honor of the 90th birthday of Prof. Karl Rawer that coincides with the 35th anniversary of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). The ionosphere was discovered during Karl Rawerʹs life, and he has dedicated his life to the exploration of this part of Earthʹs environment. The horrible events of world wars I and II shaped his early life, but they also launched his career as one of the eminent geophysical scientists of the twentieth century. The paper looks back at Karlʹs life and the 35 years of research and development in the framework of the IRI project. K. Rawer initiated this international modeling effort and was the first chairman of the IRI Working Group. IRI is a joint project of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Union of Radio science (URSI) that has the goal to establish an international standard model of the ionospheric densities temperatures, and drifts.