Prof. em. Dr. Walter Giger

Walter Giger was given the title of Professor for Environmental Chemistry at the Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Water Pollution Control of ETH Zurich on July 1st, 1995. He headed a research group for analytically-oriented organic environmental chemistry.

Prof. Giger was born on September 6, 1943 and is from Zurich. He studied at the Department of Chemistry of ETH Zurich. He received his doctorate under Professor Simon at the Organic Chemistry Laboratory of ETH Zurich. He spent one year as a visiting scientist at the Ocenographic Institution at a Woods Hole, MA and another year at Stanford University, CA. Since 1972 he joined the chemistry department of the EAWAG (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) in Dübendorf. He was head of the Chemistry Department in 1991 and from 1993 to 1995.

His research focused on the development of analytical methods to determine organic environmental chemicals. These methods are used in process-oriented field studies in order to enlarge knowledge of the environmental behavior of chemicals from 1990 to 1997. Prof. Giger was associate editor of the scientific journal issued by the American Chemical Society, "Environmental Science and Technology" from 1990 to 1997. Since 1998 he is a member of the commitee on drinking water contaminats fo the U.S. American National Academy of Sciences. He was a member and chair of the board of the section for analytical chemistry of the New Swiss Chemical Society. He was named honorary professor at the University of Karlsruhe in 1991.