The Reichenbach felsenmeer in autumn

The  Odenwald (help·info) (German pronunciation: [ˈoːdənvalt]) is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

Location[link]

Location

The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried (the northeastern section of the Rhine rift) in the west, the Main and the Bauland (a mostly unwooded area with good soils) in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of the Upper Rhine Rift Valley in the Rhine-Main Lowlands – in the north and the Kraichgau in the south. The part south of the Neckar valley is sometimes called the Kleiner Odenwald (“Little Odenwald”).

The northern and western Odenwald belong to southern Hesse, with the south stretching into Baden. In the northeast, a small part lies in Lower Franconia in Bavaria.

Geology[link]

The Felsenmeer near Reichenbach (Lautertal) in winter

.

Characteristic sandstone formation near Eberbach

The Odenwald, along with many of Germany’s low mountain ranges, belongs to the Variscan, which more than 300,000,000 years ago in the Devonian ran through great parts of Europe. The cause of this orogeny was the collision of Africa’s and Europe’s forerunner continents.

In the Triassic, about 200,000,000 years ago, the land sank again, forming the so-called “Germanic Basin” in which the metre-thick layers of red sandstone could build up. These were later covered over with layers of muschelkalk from a broad inland sea, then followed by sediments from the Late Triassic (or Keuper). The South German Cuesta Land thus formed.

When the land in the Odenwald was uplifted again about 180,000,000 years ago, more than 100 m of the sedimentary layering, in parts, was eroded away down to the bedrock, as can still be seen in the western Odenwald. The bedrock here is made out of a remarkably great number of different minerals, among them gneiss, granite, diorite, gabbro in the Frankenstein pluton, and so on. In the eastern Odenwald, the red sandstone is all that is left of the sedimentary mixture. Farther east in the Bauland, the muschelkalk deposits still overlie the Early Triassic layers. Furthermore, in the south near Heidelberg, there is still zechstein under the Early Triassic deposits.

Roughly 50 to 60 million years ago, volcanoes formed along the great geological faults. Still bearing witness to this time are the Otzberg, the Daumberg and the Katzenbuckel, all extinct volcanoes in the Odenwald. Furthermore, vulcanism with acidic minerals has left a legacy of rhyolites near Dossenheim.

At roughly the same time, the Central European plate began to tear apart so that the Upper Rhine Rift developed. Even as the Upper Rhine Rift valley still sinks today by just under a millimetre each year, the Odenwald, relatively to that, was uplifted to the height it has today. Along the faults, the small rivers Gersprenz and Weschnitz have, in part, carved their courses.

The Upper Rhine Rift is part of a fracture zone reaching from the Mediterranean Sea to Norway. Right on the edge of the Odenwald, it is roughly 2 500 m deep, but has been filled in to its current height by river and sea sediment, for until about 20,000,000 years ago, the North Sea reached far inland, across the Wetterau Depression into the Rhine Valley.

Geological maps[link]

History[link]

About 2500 BC, there is evidence that the Linear Pottery culture settled along the northern (Gersprenz) and southern (Neckar valley) edges of the Odenwald. About 400 BC, Celts (Gauls) settled throughout southern Germany. Almost all of the Odenwald was covered then with virgin forest, and the outer edges were not settled. Germanic peoples drove the Celts westwards across the Rhine to what is now France.

Roman manor house Villa Haselburg near Höchst (Mümling)

About AD 100, the older Odenwald line of the Neckar-Odenwald Limes was built under Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117). This stretch of the Empire’s border ran from Fort Wimpfen in the Valley (Kastell Wimpfen im Tal) northwards by way of the Forts of Neckarburken, the lesser forts of Trienz and Robern near Fahrenbach, Fort Oberscheidental, Fort Schloßau, Fort Hesselbach, Fort Würzberg, Fort Eulbach, Fort Hainhaus and Fort Hesselbach to Fort Wörth on the Main. Parts of the Odenwald now lay in Roman-ruled Germania Superior.

About 159, the Limes was shifted about 30 km eastwards to the Miltenberg–Walldürn–Buchen-Osterburken line. In 260, Roman hegemony fell. The Alamanni were also thrusting into the Odenwald and settling the land between the Main and Neckar, after whom came the Franks. In the 5th century, the Franks, under Clovis I, divided the land up into districts.

In the 7th and 8th centuries came Christianization by Irish-Scottish monks (Pirmin, Boniface). On the muschelkalk lands of today’s Bauland, which favoured agriculture, a broad mesh of settlements arose. The parts of the Odenwald farther in from the rivers, though, with their scant new red sandstone soils remained uninhabited. Four Benedictine monasteries were assigned the job of opening the empty woods up by the central Frankish power (Carolingian), Lorsch Abbey from the west, Fulda Monastery from the east and Mosbach Monastery from the south. Amorbach Monastery had the greatest importance for ecclesiastical, cultural and economic development in the eastern Odenwald.

In the 9th century in the southeastern Odenwald near the now more thickly settled Bauland, settlements were established. The muschelkalk-new red sandstone mineral boundary was crossed.

Name[link]

Where the name “Odenwald” came from is an open question and still causes controversy today. Following are some theories about the name’s origin:

• The name comes from Ode (plural in German: Oden), and thus the name means something like “forest of sagas” (as in “Nibelung saga”); Wald is German for “forest”.
• The name might come from Odins Wald (“Odin’s Woods”). The main problem here is that for a long time, or even always, Odin was worshipped in southern Germany under the name Wotan (in Old High German Uuodan; compare Merseburg Incantations). There is, however, a community 80 km to the west in the Nordpfälzer Bergland whose name is Odenbach, and whose mediaeval name is known to have been Odinbach.
• A further theory holds that there is a link between the name Odenwald and the Roman administrative unit Civitas Auderiensium, which among other things included the range’s northern reaches and might have been named after a tribe called the Auderienses.
• It has been postulated that there may be a link with the name Euterbach, a brook that rises in the Odenwald, so that the range’s name would mean “Wooded Range of the Euterbach”. This, of course, at once raises the question of where the name “Euterbach” itself came from.
• There could be some kinship with the word öde, not in the currently understood meaning in German of “desert”, but rather in the meaning “thinly settled”.
• A derivation from Odem (for Atem, German for “breath”) could refer to the wind, which was believed to be any god’s breath.

Legends and mythology[link]

In the Nibelungenlied (see also Nibelung) the dragon slayer Siegfried, on a hunting trip (instead of a failed campaign) leading from the Burgundian city of Worms into the Odenwald, is murdered by Hagen of Tronje. Since no exact spot for this deed has been handed down, countless communities, especially in the Hessian Odenwald, are squabbling over the right to call themselves “Siegfried’s Murder Site”.

The ruins of Rodenstein (below-mentioned) and Schnellerts near Fränkisch-Crumbach are the setting of an Odenwald ghost story: knight Rodenstein (the Rodensteiner) flies with a berserker-cornet in the night through the air to prophesy the beginning of a war (Wild Hunt motif).

Topography[link]

Mountains[link]

Over 600 m[link]

• Katzenbuckel (626 m; lookout tower), Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg
• Neunkircher Höhe (605 m; Kaiser Tower), Bergstraße district, Hesse

Over 450 m[link]

• Hardberg (593 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Stiefelhöhe (589 m), Hesse/Baden-Württemberg border
• Tromm (577 m; lookout tower), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Krehberg (576 m; with Krehberg transmitter), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Königstuhl (567.8 m; observatory, funicular railway), Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg
• Krähberg (555 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse
• Kinzert (554 m), Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg
• Weißer Stein (550 m; lookout tower), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg
• Hohe Warte (548 m), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg
• Spessartskopf (547 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Falkenberg (546 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse
• Waldskopf (538 m), Gorxheimertal-Trösel, Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Das Buch (535.30 m; near Lindenfels), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Wagenberg (535 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Eichelberg (526 m; lookout tower), Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg
• Götzenstein (522 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Melibokus („Malschen“) (517.40 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Morsberg (517 m), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse
• Felsberg (514 m; with Felsenmeer), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Knodener Kopf (511.20 m), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Wannenberg (482 m), Miltenberg district, Bavaria
• Daumberg (462 m), Gorxheimertal-Trösel, Bergstraße district, Hesse

Over 300 m[link]

• Heiligenberg (445 m), Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg
• Knorz (404 m; near Lautern), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Otzberg (367 m; with Veste Otzberg), Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse
• Auerberg (339.70 m; with Schloss Auerbach), Bergstraße district, Hesse
• Breuberg (306 m; with Breuberg Castle), Odenwaldkreis, Hesse

Bodies of water[link]

Flowing water[link]

Countless streams rise in the Odenwald, the longest of which are the following:

• Weschnitz (60 km), tributary to the Rhine
• Mümling (50 km), tributary to the Main
• Gersprenz (47 km), tributary to the MainFile:
• Lauter (43 km), tributary to the Rhine
• Erf (40 km), tributary to the Main
• Elz (Elzbach) (34 km), tributary to the Neckar
• Finkenbach (20.5 km), joins the Ulfenbach in Hirschhorn, runs to the Laxbach, tributary to the Neckar
• Ulfenbach (19.1 km), joins the Finkenbach in Hirschhorn, runs to the Laxbach, tributary to the Neckar
• Grundelbach, (10 km), flows from Trösel to Weinheim
• Modau (42 km), tributary to the Rhine
• Mud (24 km), tributary to the Main
• Steinach (22 km), tributary to the Neckar

Standing water[link]

There are a few bodies of standing water in the Odenwald, among which are the following:

• the Marbach Reservoir
• the Eutersee

Political divisions[link]

Districts (with district seats)[link]

• Bergstraße district (Heppenheim)
• Darmstadt-Dieburg (Dieburg, administration in Darmstadt-Kranichstein)
• Main-Tauber-Kreis (Tauberbischofsheim)
• Miltenberg district (Miltenberg)
• Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis (Mosbach)
• Odenwaldkreis (Erbach)
• Rhein-Neckar-Kreis (Heidelberg)

District-free cities[link]

• Heidelberg
• Darmstadt

Transport and tourism[link]

The Odenwald is known as a leisure destination easily accessible from the urban areas of Mannheim and Frankfurt. It is known for its clean thin air and was once known for its health sanitariums. There are many marked hiking paths through the rural areas. Wild blueberries, strawberries and mushrooms are to be found in the forests.

Roads[link]

The planned extension to the Odenwaldautobahn, that is, the A 45 (Dortmund–Aschaffenburg), was never realized. Nevertheless, all these Bundesstraßen run through the Odenwald:

• B 27: Mosbach - Buchen - Tauberbischofsheim
• B 38: Reinheim - Groß-Bieberau - Brensbach - Reichelsheim - Fürth - Mörlenbach - Birkenau - Weinheim
• B 45: Groß-Umstadt - Höchst - Bad König - Michelstadt - Erbach - Beerfelden - Eberbach
• B 47: Bensheim - Lindenfels - Reichelsheim - Michelstadt - Amorbach
• B 426: Darmstadt - Mühltal - Ober-Ramstadt - Reinheim - Otzberg - Groß-Umstadt - Höchst - Breuberg - Obernburg
• B 460: Heppenheim - Fürth - Mossautal - Hüttenthal

Furthermore, the Nibelungenstraße and the Siegfriedstraße run through the Odenwald, partly along the roads listed above.

Railways[link]

The Himbächelviadukt on the Odenwaldbahn (railway)

• Odenwald Railway from Darmstadt or Hanau by way of Wiebelsbach-Heubach to Eberbach, opened in 1882, since December 2005 run with modern Itino trains
• Weschnitz Valley Railway from Weinheim to Fürth, opened in 1895
• Überwald Railway from Mörlenbach by way of Wald-Michelbach to Wahlen, opened in 1901, abandoned in 1996
• Hetzbach–Beerfelden line from Hetzbach to Beerfelden, opened in 1904, abandoned in 1954
• Mosbach–Mudau line (locally known as the Entenmörder – “Duck Murderer”) from Mosbach to Mudau, former 1000 mm narrow-gauge railway, opened in 1905, abandoned in 1973, since 1980 right-of-way has been converted into a cycling path
• Neckar Valley Railway from Heidelberg by way of Eberbach and Mosbach to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld, opened in 1879
• Neckarelz–Osterburken line, opened in 1866 as part of the Baden Odenwaldbahn
• Madonnenland Railway from Seckach to Miltenberg
• Gersprenz Valley Railway from Reinheim to Reichelsheim, opened in 1887 and abandoned by 1963

Special day trips[link]

The Margarethenschlucht (gorge)

• In Hainstadt, Hesse (a constituent community of Breuberg) in the Mümling valley is a quarry which has been turned into a climbing facility by the Odenwälder Kletterfreunde (“Odenwald Climbing Friends”). There is also a climbing path secured by wire cables. The Odenwald Climbing Friends take care of the paths. The quarry also lies in the DAV’s (Deutsche Alpenverein e. V. – a mountain climbing club) Darmstadt Section feeder area.
• Beneath the 514 m-high Felsberg and north of Lautertal-Reichenbach is found a Felsenmeer – literally “cliff sea” – consisting of many weathered stones strewn about the ground which have fallen down from the cliff after having come loose from erosion. The Romans used it as a stone quarry.
• In Eberstadt, a constituent community of Buchen, one of southern Germany’s most important dripstone caves was discovered in 1971. It is open to the public.
• Around the Katzenbuckel runs the Kristall-Lehrpfad (“Crystal Teaching Path”), which graphically shows the volcanic development in the Odenwald.
• From Höchst im Odenwald snakes the Obrunnschlucht (gorge) as a romantic fairytale path towards Rimhorn with many model buildings (palaces, castles and mills) along the valley.
• The Odenwald is threaded with a network of more than 10 000 km of hiking trails.
• Because the highways have so many curves, the Odenwald is a popular outing destination for motorcyclists.
• Every year one of the greatest Halloween events in Germany is organized on the Frankenstein Castle (see above). The same name suggests a connection with Mary Shelleys famous filmed novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. The horror scenery and the comedians dressed up as ghosts and witches spook the huge audience.
• Walking and climbing through the Margarethenschlucht (Neckargerach) or the Wolfsschlucht (Wolf’s Glen) near Zwingenberg castle (Zwingenberg/Neckar)
• Zwingenberg Castle (see above) is the place of an annual castle festival. Carl Maria von Webers romantic opera Der Freischütz (translated as The Marksman or The Freeshooter.) is performed at the entrance of the gorge Wolfsschlucht. The plot is based on a German folk legend which the composer discovered in the Gespensterbuch (ghostsbook) during his sojourn in Neuburg Abbey near Heidelberg in 1810. It is believed, that he also was inspired by the Wolf’s Glen in a Neckar tributary valley, but there are many places in Germany with the same name. Anyway. In act 2 the protagonist Max meets the diabolic Caspar in the supernatural greepy opera scene Wolfsschlucht to become the best shooter with the assistance of magic power. Now a risky action starts.

Every year the Heppenheimer Street Theatre Gassensensationen occupies the marketplace and other corners of the old town

• For half a week early July the Heppenheimer (see above) Street theatre named Gassensensationen occupies several places und corners of the old town with presentations for children and adults. The outdoor performances include very popular loud and simple genres with music, dance, mime, circus arts and slapstick, but also sensitive theatre plays or songs in discrete spaces.
• The granite rocks of the Juhöhe near Heppenheim inspired people always to imagine fairy stories. They told, that the holes were offering cups for the devil. Stones nearby got chapped, when he sharpened his claws. According to a local version of the Rodensteiner legend the Wild Hunter crossing the Juhöhe lost his cry of hounds: They crashed and where rammed in the ground. Even today the petrified dogheads are on view at the top of the hill. So the rocks are called Hundsköpfe. Flat iron is the name of another granite formation near the Juhöhe. A long time ago Giant-ladies made use of it to set their Sunday dresses in order.

Castle-Sightseeing[link]

The Odenwald is home to a great many historic castles and palatial residences. In times past the fortresses on the top of the Odenwald mountains controlled Bergstraße and the Weschnitz-, the Gersprenz-, the Mümling- and the Neckar-Valley.

Music[link]

About the Odenwald quite a few songs have been written:

• Es steht ein Baum im Odenwald (“There Stands a Tree in the Odenwald”)^[5]
• Tief im Odenwald (“Deep in the Odenwald”)^[6]
• Der Bauer aus dem Odenwald (“The Farmer from the Odenwald”)^[7]
• Es regt sich was im Odenwald (“Things Are Stirring in the Odenwald”)^[8]

See also[link]

• Hessian dialects
• Historical territorial allegiances: Electorate of the Palatinate | Archbishopric of Mainz | Landgraviate of Hesse | Grand Duchy of Hesse | People's State of Hesse | Baden

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Monographs and anthologies[link]

• Marco Lichtenberger: Saurier aus dem Odenwald. Jens Seeling Verlag. Frankfurt 2007. ISBN 3-938973-04-8
• Winfried Wackerfuss (publisher): Zu Kultur und Geschichte des Odenwaldes. 2. unveränderte Auflage 1982. Breuberg-Bund, Breuberg-Neustadt 1982. ISBN 3-922903-01-0
• Otmar A. Geiger: Sagenhafter Odenwald. Ein Führer durch das Reich der Nibelungen zwischen Worms und Würzburg. Schimper, Schwetzingen 2000. ISBN 3-87742-152-0
• Georg Bungenstab (publisher): Wälder im Odenwald - Wald für die Odenwälder. Dokumente aus 150 Jahren Eberbacher Forstgeschichte. Staatliches Forstamt Eberbach, Eberbach 1999, 288 S.
• Heinz Bischof: Odenwald. 3., überarbeitete Auflage. Goldstadtverlag, Pforzheim 2004. ISBN 3-89550-313-4
• Thomas Biller/Achim Wendt: Burgen und Schlösser im Odenwald. Ein Führer zu Geschichte und Architektur. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2005. ISBN 3-7954-1711-2
• Andreas Stieglitz: Wandern im Odenwald und an der Bergstraße. Aus der Reihe DuMont aktiv. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2005. ISBN 3-7701-5015-5.
• Seipel, Herbert Stephan: Faszination Odenwald. Eine Bilderreise zur Kulturgeschichte des Odenwaldes. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2004. ISBN 978-3-89735-140-0
• Keller, Dieter/Keller, Uwe/Türk, Rainer: Der Odenwald zwischen Himmel und Erde. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2003. ISBN 978-3-89735-187-5

Periodicals[link]

• Breuberg-Bund (publisher): Beiträge zur Erforschung des Odenwaldes und seiner Randlandschaften. Breuberg-Bund, Breuberg-Neustadt 1977 ff.
• Breuberg-Bund (publisher): Der Odenwald. Vierteljahreszeitschrift des Breuberg-Bundes mit Beiträgen zur Geschichte, Volkskunde, Kunstgeschichte und Geographie des Odenwaldes und seiner Randlandschaften. Breuberg-Bund, Breuberg-Neustadt 1953 ff.
• Kreisarchiv des Odenwaldkreises (publisher): Gelurt. Odenwälder Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte. Odenwaldkreis, Erbach 1994 ff.
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Geschichts- und Heimatvereine im Kreis Bergstrasse (publisher): Geschichtsblätter Kreis Bergstraße. Laurissa, Lorsch 1971 ff.

The Odenwald in Literature[link]

• Adolf Schmitthenner: Das deutsche Herz. 3. Auflage. Stadt Hirschhorn, Hirschhorn, 1999. ISBN 3-927409-00-6 (first edition 1927)
• Werner Bergengrün: Das Buch Rodenstein. 3. Auflage. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2002. ISBN 3-458-33493-9 (first edition 1908)
• Adam Karrillon: Michael Hely. Reprint der 2. Auflage (Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1904) im Verlag Gustav Aderhold, Pfungstadt 1979.
• Georg Schäfer: Die Falschmünzer im Weschnitztal oder Die silbernen Glocken von Mörlenbach. Reprint der Ausgabe von 1896 im Verlag Herbert A. Kammer Rimbach.

External links[link]

• Odenwald – Official page of Odenwald-Regional-Gesellschaft (OREG) (German)
• UNESCO Geo-Park – Official page of Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald (German)
• Odenwaldklub – Official page of Odenwaldklub (German)
• Regionalentwicklung Odenwald – Official page of Interessengemeinschaft Odenwald e.V. (IGO) (German)

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Coordinates: 49°35′02″N 9°01′18″E / 49.583993°N 9.021749°E / 49.583993; 9.021749

v t e Central Uplands of Germany Arnsberg Forest Bavarian Forest Black Forest Bohemian Forest Ebbegebirge Eggegebirge Eifel Elbe Sandstone Mountains Elstergebirge Fichtelgebirge Franconian Jura Franconian Forest Gladenbach Uplands Habichtswald Harz Hoher Meißner Hunsrück Kaiserstuhl Kellerwald Kaufungen Forest Knüll Kyffhäuser Lusatian Mountains Lennegebirge Lippe Uplands North Palatine Uplands Odenwald Ore Mountains Palatine Forest Rhön Rothaargebirge Saalhausen Hills Swabian Jura Siebengebirge Solling Spessart Taunus Teutoburg Forest Thuringian Highland Thuringian Forest Upper Palatine Forest Vogelsberg Weser Uplands Wesergebirge Westerwald Wiehen Hills Zittau Hills

A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (August 2007)

Sten Odenwald is an astronomer who runs the website Astronomy Cafe, and is a researcher studying the cosmic infrared background and space weather. Since receiving his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University in 1982, he has been an astronomer in the Washington, D.C. area, primarily at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Early life[link]

Odenwald was born in Karlskoga, Sweden, and emigrated to California with his family in 1955. He grew up in Oakland, where he attended primary school. Odenwald had interests in biology, chemistry, geology and electronics. In high school, he began a program of astrophotography.

After attending Fremont High School, Odenwald attended U.C. Berkeley. While there, he took courses in tensor analysis, General Relativity, and quantum theory. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Astronomy in 1975, and attended Harvard University as a graduate student in Astronomy.

At Harvard, he studied accretion disks around supermassive black holes.^{[citation needed]} He then worked with Dr. Giovanni Fazio, and completed his Ph.D. by investigating the far-infrared properties of the Milky Way's galactic center (purportedly the stomping grounds of a million-solar-mass black hole).^{[citation needed]} He also worked at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, participating in high-altitude balloon launches involving the 1-meter infrared telescope that Fazio and his team built in 1975. While at Harvard, he was the Teaching Assistant for Owen Gingerich and David Latham.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Following the completion of his Ph.D., Odenwald moved to Washington, DC in 1982, where he worked as a post-Doctoral candidate at the Space Sciences Division of the Naval Research Laboratory until 1990. After a brief stint working for NASA headquarters pursuing education projects, he joined Dr. Mike Hauser with the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Team in 1992, working on the Diffuse Infrared background Experiment (DIRBE). This led to independent studies of extra-galactic objects, and collaborations with Dr. Alexander Kashlinsky and Dr. John Mather, who were investigating the cosmic infrared background, which as yet had not been detected by 1997. When the COBE program ended, Odenwald continued his collaboration with Kashlinsky and Mather, with the help of a 5-year NASA research grant.^{[citation needed]} Odenwald worked on education activities related to the IMAGE satellite, and helped to form the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum. Since 1998, Odenwald's research has focused on space weather, specifically the way in which solar storms cause economic damage to satellites in space.^{[citation needed]}

Current research[link]

Odenwald currently works under contract to NASA at the Goddard Spaceflight Center, in education-related areas of space science. His most recent papers simulate the economic impacts of very large solar 'superstorms' to the commercial satellite network.^{[citation needed]} He participates in TV programs for NASA, radio interviews and other areas to foster public education, and interest in astronomy and space research.^{[citation needed]}

For Odenwald, education was a natural extension of his personal and professional interests, at a time when NASA was being asked to take the lead in inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists. These programs, in K-12 education, are called Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or 'STEM'.^{[citation needed]}

astronomycafe.net[link]

The Astronomy Cafe is a website that Odenwald started in 1995 as an experiment in public education using the new medium of the World Wide Web.^{[citation needed]} It initially offered essays and collections of visual imagery in astronomy. Odenwald started the Ask the Astronomer section of the site, where he invited people to email questions about astronomy, and he would post the answers. The Astronomy Café traffic grew, and by 1998, the Ask the Astronomer section had reached 3000 questions. Odenwald decided to stop answering new questions after that, mainly because the questions had become repetitive. Ask the Astronomer still remains a popular search destination, and gets over 70,000 visitors to this page each month.^{[citation needed]} Over the years, Odenwald has created web resources in astronomy, including those used by NASA.^{[citation needed]}

Books[link]

Odenwald has published a number of books, beginning with the 1998 publication of The Astronomy Cafe,^[1] and most recently, contributing to Stepping Through the Stargate, with the chapter entitled "Stargate: The Final Frontier?".^[2] Other publications include the 2001 book The 23rd Cycle: Learning to live with a stormy star",^[3] Patterns in the Void: Why Nothing is Important in 2002,^[4] and a sequel to his first book, the 2003 publication Back to the Astronomy Cafe,.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

Sites Odenwald writes or contributes to[link]

• astronomycafe.net
• The Human Impacts of Space Weather
• NASA-Weekly Math Problems in Space Science
• NASA-Sun-Earth Forum
• NASA-Themis education satellite
• NASA-Hinode satellite education work