learn he’s an alcoholic.” This is entirely fact, with no clear evidence of malice, about a public figurc. Defamation does not occur when the person is not alive, or the person or group is generic.
I hope this information is useful. In the next column, 1 will discuss how to deal with a situation in which someone is libeling or slandering you. [Editor’s note: This column is intended to address the issues considered only from their ethical standpoint. The author is not an attorney, and nothing in this column should be construed to be legal advice nor even necessarily correct from a legal standpoint. The advice of an attorney should be consulted on all legal matters. WRS] .$:
In Memoriam: Werner Weiglhofer
Werner Siegfried Weiglhofer, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Glasgow (UK), died on Janualy 12, 2003. Evidently, he was brought down by an avalanche on the slopes of Mt. Bispen, Norway. A search and rescue team found his body the next day. His parents survive him in Austria. Born in 1962, Werner obtained a diploma in Physics and a doctorate in Technical Sciences from the Technical University of Graz. After post-doctoral stints at Graz, the University of Adelaide (Australia), and Glasgow, Werner joined the Department of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow in 1991 as a Lecturer. He was elevated to the rank of a full Professor in September, 2002. Werner’s research interests lay in magnetohydrodynamics and theoretical electromagnetics of complex materials. He
IEEEAntennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 45. No. 2, April 2003
authored or co-authored 130 journal papers, in addition to numerous confercncc publications and presentations. Among his many notable contributions rank the delineation of magnetic instabilities in rotaling plasmas; the development of scalar Hertz potentials and Green functions for bianisotropic materials; wave propagation in structurally chiral matcrials, such as certain sculptured thin films; and homogenization of linear and nonlinear particulate composite materials. His shun research career was punctuated by several achievements. He organized Bianisotropics 97, a specialist meeting on complex medium electromagnetics in Glasgow in 1997. He was the Chair of two SPlE conferences (Complex Mediums in 2000 and Complex Mediums I1 in ZOOI), and attended several other SPIE conferences where he served as a Session Chair. He was a prolific reviewer for over 30 different international journals, and served on the editorial boards of two journals: Electrrimagnetics, and Archiv fuer Eleksfronik und Uebertrangungssfechnik. Werner won an Australian-European Fellowship in 1987. URSI honored him with three Young Scientist Awards in 1986, 1989, and 1990. He was awarded several grants by the Nuffield Foundation, the British Council, and the Royal Society, London. He held a Research Fellowship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh during the year 2000. Werner was a dedicated teacher. He co-authorcd an undergraduate textbook on ordinary differential equations, and spent many hours devising numerous research projects in applied mathematics for his students. He planned to publish a collection of these projects to show that mathematics is not only a thing of beauty, but eminently useful, too. From September, he begin to coedit a pedagogical volume on electromagnetic fields in complcx materials, to be published by SPIE in 2003. Werner was never happier than when surrounded by snow above clouds. His favorite stomping grounds included the Highlands of Scotland; the Cascades in Washington state, USA; the Alps of central Europe; and the peaks of Romsdal county, Norway. Romsdal held him in complete thrall. He wrote two guidebooks on its mountains, in addition to several articles in Norwegian, Austrian, and Scottish newspapers. So great were his loves of mountaineering and electromagnetics that he would have been a premier member of the Institute of Electromagnetic Mountaineers!
Akhlesh Lakhtakia Engineering Science and Mechanics Pennsylvania State University 212 Earth-Engineering Sciences Building University Park, PA 16802-6812, USA Tel: +1 (814)863-4319 Fax: +I (814) 865-9974 E-mail:
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