Medal in 1996, the highest recognition by the Canadian Geophysical Union, for his outstanding contributions to Canadian geophysics. Personal life Since he was born into a typical bourgeois family, Petr Vaníček's wife and children requested to leave Communist Czechoslovakia during the brief but liberal times of Prague Spring. They were granted exit visa just before the Soviet invasion of 1968. The family reunited in England where he was staying on a 1967 Senior Research Fellowship at the University of Liverpool. Together, they immigrated to Canada in 1969. He has one daughter and two sons. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 2002, after more than thirty years of teaching at the University of Toronto and the University of New Brunswick. He lives in Fredericton, Canada. See also List of geodesists List of geophysicists Science and technology in Canada References External links On-line geodesy resources Honoring the Academic Life of Petr Vaníček, (2002) UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea, Accessed: 2 October 2007 Vaníček P., Krakiwsky E.J. Geodesy: the Concepts, pp. 714, Elsevier (1986) Vaníček P., Christou N.T. Geoid and its Geophysical Interpretations, pp. 370, CRC Press (1993) Dr. Petr Vaníček's home page at the University of New Brunswick, Canada, Accessed: 2 October 2007 Online Tutorial in Geodesy by Petr Vaniček . From: Associated Press Encyclopedia of Science & Technology (2001) 1935 births Canadian physicists 20th-century Canadian scientists 21st-century Canadian scientists Presidents of the Canadian Geophysical Union University of New Brunswick University of New Brunswick faculty University of Toronto faculty Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology Living people Geophysicists Geodesists Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Canadian educators People from Sušice Scientists from New Brunswick Canadian geophysicists Wilson Medal recipients Earth scientists 20th-century earth scientists 21st-century earth scientists Fellows of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Canadian academics Canadian people of Czech descent Czech emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada