Personalia forsch 2022/02
Who is new at the University of Bonn? Who celebrated an anniversary? Who was awarded for his research? Who retired? You can read this and other personnel news here.
Edited by Julia Dobrjanski
2022 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Prize
Dr. Konstantinos Nikolaos Migkas, is the recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Prize awarded by the University of Bonn. Presented by the Physics and Astronomy Foundation, the prize was bestowed in recognition of Dr. Migkas’ dissertation entitled “The Isotropy of the Universe As Seen Through Galaxy Clusters”, for which he also was recognized by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation. Dr. Migkas is a member of the working group of Prof. Dr. Thomas Reiprich at the University of Bonn’s Argelander Institute for Astronomy. Dr. Migkas’ research calls in question, at a minimum, one of the most fundamental cosmological assumptions, that on vast scales the universe looks the same in any direction—for which there is empirical support. Employing a new method, Dr. Migkas sought to verify this assumption, but came to the unexpected finding that galaxy clusters appeared darker on one side of the sky than on the other. Galaxy clusters, which are believed to be the largest objects in the universe, emit X-rays in proportion to their mass. The rays are emitted by hot plasma inside galaxy clusters that exists at temperatures between 10 and 100 million degrees. The more massive the galaxy cluster is, the higher the temperature of the plasma, so that more X-rays are generated when the plasma is especially hot. A discrepancy between the X-ray emission of different galaxy clusters which have the same plasma temperature had never been observed heretofore. Further detailed study led Dr. Migkas to outline his finding, offering only two possible explanations for the phenomenon: either the universe is expanding at different speeds in different directions, or there are unexpectedly large flows of matter in the universe explaining the prize-winning scientist’s discovery. Either way, the research results mean that more study is required which could lead to significant changes in fundamental cosmological assumptions.
The Ada Lovelace Award
Uta Seidler is recipient of the Ada Lovelace Award presented by the University of Bonn Institute for Numerical Simulation (INS). She was bestowed the award for her distinguished master’s thesis entitled “Sparse Grid Methods for High-dimensional Problems in Uncertainty Quantification”. Created in 2010 to recognize the work of younger women in the field of numerics, the annual Ada Lovelace Award is given in honor of the most distinguished bachelor’s and master’s theses and dissertations of students at the Institute. The Award is named for the Countess of Lovelace, who in designing an algorithm became the developer of the first-ever computer program. Ms. Seidler’s research addresses the solution of partial elliptic differential equations with uncertainties in the data, such as can occur in diffusion coefficients (which are a measure of the mobility of particles). For her master’s project, conducted based on the sparse grid method, she started by applying the Karhunen-Loève expansion for stochastic diffusion, truncating the relevant series to finite dimensions. She then applied a specially developed dimension-adaptive sparse grid combination method to a practical problem involved in groundwater flow simulation. The award comes with a purse of 1,000 euros.
The Dubrovin Medal
Prof. Dr. Georg Oberdieck is this year’s Dubrovin Medal recipient, awarded by the prominent Italian research institution SISSA (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati). The Dubrovin Medal is an international award presented for noteworthy contributions by early-career researchers in the fields of mathematical physics and geometry. This special award, presented bi-annually, is named in memory of Professor Boris Anatolievich Dubrovin of the graduate school and research institution SISSA. The medal is sponsored by the Moscow Mathematical Society and two chapters of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica (INDAM). Prof. Oberdieck is a Junior Fellow at the University of Bonn’s Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) active in the field of algebraic geometry, i.e. the describing of geometric objects through algebraic equations. He has successfully solved counting problems concerning how many geometric objects of a certain type are found in a specific, physical context. Professor Oberdieck described the mathematical structure of these objects in a significantly superior way than had been done before. These kinds of counting tasks are called ‘enumerative algebraic geometry’, and are of relevance in theoretical physics, among other fields. The Medal recipient received his doctorate in mathematics from ETH Zurich in 2015 and worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US before coming to the University of Bonn as a Junior Fellow at the HCM.
Aimee van Wynsberghe inducted into academy: The AI ethicist from the University of Bonn has been appointed as a new member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature
One of the six new members of the Academy of Sciences and Literature is Aimee van Wynsberghe. The AI ethicist from the University of Bonn is to become a full member of the Class of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe studies the ethics of artificial intelligence and has held a Humboldt Professorship at the University of Bonn since 2021. She is Director of the Institute of Science and Ethics, which is based at the professorship, as well as heading up the Sustainable AI Lab. This sees outstanding researchers from various disciplines work together on the ecological, social and economic costs of developing AI and using it in society.
Among other things, they are looking at how the environmental costs of AI can be measured and how they will impact on the various generations. The researchers are also working on drawing up public-policy guidelines for how AI can be used in an appropriate, sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
“Supported by a strong team of researchers but also by artists and other knowledge partners, we’re working to strengthen Germany as a center of excellence for AI sustainability projects,” says van Wynsberghe, who is also a member of the Individuals and Societies and Sustainable Futures Transdisciplinary Research Areas at the University of Bonn.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Feuser
Faculty of Arts
Prof. Dr. Stefan Feuser teaches Classical Archeology at the Department of Archeology and Cultural Anthropology as Heisenberg Professor since April 1, 2022. Professor Feuser studied classical archeology, ancient history, prehistory and early history at the University of Münster and at Humboldt University of Berlin, receiving his doctorate in Classical Archeology in 2008. Prof. Feuser has been a research associate at the Universities of Münster and Rostock, and at the German Archaeological Institute. From September 2014 to early 2015 he was a Fellow of Hellenic Studies at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies. After earning his post-doctoral Habilitation at the University of Rostock, Professor Feuser assumed a fixed-term professorship in Classical Archeology at the University of Kiel 2016. In 2019 he worked at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA under a Feodor Lynen research fellowship, made available to experienced academics by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He then returned to the University of Münster under a Feodor Lynen Return Fellowship. In 2021 Professor Feuser became part of the Heisenberg program of the German Research Foundation (DFG). His research addresses human interaction with the environment in Greco-Roman antiquity on the Mediterranean coastline. Another focus research of Professor Feuser is time, including ‘time phenomena’ and the experiencing of time in the cities of antiquity.
Prof. Dr. Ilona C. Grunwald Kadow
Faculty of Medicine
Prof. Dr. Ilona C. Grunwald Kadow got a Professorship for Physiology (W3) on January 1, 2022, and is Director of the Institute of Physiology ll. Professor Grunwald Kadow earned degrees in Biology from the University of Göttingen and the University of California in the United States. In 1999 she commenced doctoral study at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology. She spent 2003 to 2008 in the US as postdoctoral research fellow at UCLA and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, both in Los Angeles, California. Following her role as Emmy Noether Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology, Professor Grunwald Kadow was Max Planck research group leader and Professor of Neuronal Control of Metabolism at Technical University of Munich from 2017-2021. She is furthermore active in the Life and Health Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn, and as a Henriette-Herz Scout for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is a recipient of the Dr. Heinrich Bauer Award as well as the Otto Hahn Medal bestowed by the Max Planck Society. In her research Professor Grunwald Kadow’s studies how the nervous system enables humans and animals to adapt to constant changes in their environment so they and subsequent generations of the species are able to survive. Professor Grunwald Kadow investigates basic genetic, synaptic and neuronal circuit mechanisms, insights from which are transferable to other organisms including human beings, focusing primarily on the fly Drosophila melanogaster as genetic animal model.
Prof. Dr. Judith Hahn
Faculty of Catholic Theology
Prof. Dr. Judith Hahn joined the Canon Law Seminar as Professor of Canon Law (W3) on April 1, 2022. After studying Catholic Theology at Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt/Main and at Heythrop College in London, Professor Hahn took her doctorate in canon law at the University of Münster from 2004-2008. She completed her Habilitation in 2016 in Münster in the fields of canon law and history of ecclesiastical law. Before coming to the University of Bonn Professor Hahn was a Professor of Canon Law at Ruhr University Bochum, and since 2016 has been an honorary judge at the Church Labor Court in Bonn. Professor Hahn’s research primarily concerns questions of legal and normative theory, including how law—canon and otherwise—differs from other normatives. She has developed a ‘sociology of canon law’ which is an innovative perspective representing a contribution to interdisciplinary discourse. Among other things, Professor Hahn’s research work promotes an understanding of religious legal systems as phenomena within a plural legal landscape.
Prof. Dr. Connie C. Lu
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
Prof. Dr. Connie C. Lu became Professor of Inorganic Chemistry (W3) at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry on April 1, 2022. Professor Lu completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in the United States at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the year 2000. She then earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry 2006 at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). As holder of an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship Professor Lu gained experience with German research institutions from 2006-2009 as a postdoc working under Prof. Dr. Karl Wieghardt at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mühlheim (formerly the Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry). Prior to her professorial appointment in Bonn she was assistant and then associate professor at the chemistry department of the University of Minnesota, teaching there with full professor status from 2020 until March 2022. Professor Lu’s awards include the NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Most recently she received a ChemSoc Rev Pioneering Investigator Lectureship, in 2021. Her research spans inorganic and organometallic chemistry, with a particular focus on chemical bonding, electronic structure, reactivity and catalysis. In her research group Professor Lu designs and develops catalysts with bimetallic active centers. These are designed to utilize metal-metal interactions to convert small molecules that are abundant and favorable, such as CO2 and N2, into useful chemicals and fuels.
Prof. Dr. Zbyněk Malenovský
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Prof. Dr. Alexander Scheuch accepted a five-year appointment on March 1, 2022 as Professor of Civil, Commercial and Corporate Law and Civil Procedure (W2) at the Department of Law. After studying law at the University of Münster Dr. Scheuch worked there as research associate at the Institute for International Business Law. Professor Scheuch received his doctorate from the University of Münster in 2013; his dissertation on corporate law earned the Harry Westermann Prize awarded by the Department of Law. He completed his legal clerkship in Bonn before working as a legal counsel to Cologne’s soccer team 1. FC Köln. He became an adjunct lecturer at the University of Münster in October 2015, and in 2020 earned qualification to lecture as a full professor of civil procedure and of civil, commercial, corporate and economic law. His Habilitation thesis concerned legal errors and legal uncertainty in private law and civil procedure. He served as acting chair at universities in Osnabrück and Gießen prior to his appointment as professor. He is also a founding member and former national chair of the student initiative Weitblick e.V., a non-profit devoted to supporting education projects worldwide. From 2017 to 2020 Professor Scheuch was a member of the Junges Kolleg organization for early-career researchers formed by the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts, where he was spokesman of the working group on data and artificial intelligence. In his research he continues to explore issues relating to this area, in international commercial law and civil procedure, for example. Professor Scheuch’s work in corporate law centers on collective decision-making, aspects of sustainability and framework conditions for social responsibility.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Scheuch
Faculty of Law and Economics
Prof. Dr. Zbynˇek Malenovský joined the Department of Geography on April 1, 2022 as Professor of Physical Geography (W3), succeeding Prof. Dr. Gunter Menz. Professor Malenovský completed a degree in Environmental Protection at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic before earning his doctorate in Remote Sensing and Environmental Science in 2006 at Wageningen University, Netherlands. He then led a research group on remote sensing of vegetation processes at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and worked as research associate in the Netherlands and at the University of Zurich from 2007-2009. His next career station was working in geography and spatial science research in Australia, at the University of Tasmania and the University of Wollongong, during which time he led several expeditions for mapping Antarctic land vegetation using drones. From 2015-2017 Professor Malenovský was a research associate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, USA and a Chief Scientist at the Institute for Global Change in the Czech Republic. He returned to the University of Tasmania the year following as Research Council Future Fellow where he worked until accepting appointment as Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Bonn, where Prof. Malenovsky is now head of the Remote Sensing working group. His work combines quantitative optical remote sensing—principally imaging spectroscopy via drone, airplane and satellite—with plant ecophysiology, through physical modeling of light interactions using machine learning. Some of his experiments have formed the basis for scientific usage of the Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 satellites, and for development of the chlorophyll fluorescence observation procedures to be conducted as part of the FLEX mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Professor Malenovský’s research illuminates the impact of global climate change on ecosystem services, functional biodiversity and the ecological stability of forests and other vegetated landscapes that are critical for the sustainable production of food, fiber and other renewable resources.
Prof. Dr. Estela Suarez
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Prof. Dr. Estela Suarez Garcia came to the University of Bonn on February 1, 2022 as Professor of High Performance Computing (W2) in the Computer Science department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Simultaneous with her appointment she was granted a leave of absence (effective February 1, 2022) to work at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (the FZ Jülich research center). Professor Suarez did her studies in Spain, graduating in 2001 from Universidad de Oviedo with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics followed by a Master’s degree in Astrophysics in 2004 from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She then worked as a physicist in the astrophysics lab of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villingen, Switzerland, and as research associate at the University of Geneva while working on her doctorate from 2007 to 2010. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Geneva, Switzerland in 2010, and since September 2010 has been Chief Scientist and Scientific Project Leader at the Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC) of Forschungszentrum Jülich. Through her work at Forschungszentrum Jülich she gained experience at the University of Bonn, lecturing for the Department of Physics from 2018 up until September 2021. Her research focuses in the field of high-performance computing range from system-level architectures to technology exploration and code design. The goal is to identify and use in combination the most suitable hardware technologies (computing power, memory, network, storage, etc.) and software solutions (programming models, low-level communication protocols, etc.) for use in the next supercomputer generation. Prof. Suarez sees her role as providing an optimal computing instrument for the advancement of science given the technologies available, in view of the possibilities they afford and their limitations.
Prof. Dr. Carl-Friedrich Bödigheimer was awarded the German Academic Scholarship Foundation’s Daidalos Coin on June 29, 2022. The mathematician received the accolade in recognition for his work as a liaison lecturer, a role he has devoted himself to since 2000. Prof. Bödigheimer had been nominated by his group of scholarship recipients, with whom he organized excursions, museum visits, walks and trips to concerts and the opera. Prof. Bödigheimer was University Professor at the University of Bonn’s Mathematical Institute from 1993 to the end of August 2022. Alongside his teaching duties, he also served on the German Academic Scholarship Foundation’s executive board on a voluntary basis as well as being a member of the selection committee for doctoral scholarships and a lecturer. The Daidalos Coin has been awarded to exceptional liaison lecturers since 2013.
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University
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch, Rector of the University of Bonn, has been elected Deputy Chair of German U15, succeeding Freie Universität Berlin President Günter M. Ziegler. Nearly a third of all German and international students in Germany attend one of the universities in the German U15 alliance.
Faculty of Protestant Theology
PD Dr. Daniel Bauer has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Religious Education (W3) in the Faculty of Protestant Theology, Religious Education Section, until September 30, 2022.
Dr. Matthias Braun is covering the Professorship for Ethics in the Faculty of Protestant Theology from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Dr. Gerhard Johannes Schreiber has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Systematic Theology (and Hermeneutics) (W2) in the Faculty of Protestant Theology from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Faculty of Catholic Theology
With effect from March 1, 2022, Dr. Anna Maria Riedl has been appointed as a tenure-track Assistant Professor (W1) for Christian Social Ethics in the Department of Christian Social Ethics and Pastoral Sociology, specializing in sustainable development.
Faculty of Law and Economics
Dr. Lars Christian Berster has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Criminal Law and the Philosophy of Law (W2) in the Department for the Philosophy of Law from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Dr. Matthias Fervers has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Civil Law and the Protection of Art and Cultural Assets (W3) at the Institute of German and International Civil Procedure Law from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Klaus F. Gärditz from the Institute of Public Law has been appointed as the new Research Integrity Ombudsperson by the Rectorate, succeeding Prof. Dr. Carl-Friedrich Stuckenberg.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen von Hagen was re-elected Dean by the faculty council of the Faculty of Law and Economics on January 14, 2022.
PD Dr. Ann-Marie Kaulbach is covering the Professorship for Civil Law and Roman Law (W2) at the Institute of Roman Law and Comparative Legal History from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Anne Lefebvre-Teillard has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Law and Economics. One of the most widely acknowledged experts on French legal history, she is a member of several international academies and professional academic societies, among other things, and herself spent a long time heading up the professional society for French legal history. Her doctorate was conferred during the Journées Internationales de l’Histoire du Droit, the French legal history conference, held in the Department of Law. With its honorary doctorate, the faculty recognized Lefebvre-Teillard's contributions to research, including developing the concept of the person in law, the history of family law and numerous individual studies of handwritten legal texts. Dean Prof. Dr. Jürgen von Hagen explained: “Through her work at Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, Anne Lefebvre-Teillard has played a significant role in shaping French legal history research.”
Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen, Hertz Professor in the Individuals and Societies Transdisciplinary Research Area, received this year’s Wilhelm Weber Prize from the Kommende Dortmund Social Institute for Christian Social Ethics on May 8. The award is worth €3,000.
Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Maximilian Billmann has been appointed Assistant Professor (W1) for Pharmacogenomics at the Institute of Human Genetics on a three-year contract with effect from February 1, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Ralph Alexander Bundschuh’s last day as University Professor W2 at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Nuclear Medicine was April 24, 2022.
PD Dr. Raluca Cosgarea, senior physician at the Polyclinic for Periodontology and Restorative and Preventive Dentistry, was presented with the Jaccard/EFP Research Prize in Copenhagen on June 16, 2022. She became the first woman ever to win the top award for her research into supplementary antibiotics for treating aggressive periodontitis. The CHF 10,000 (€9,835) Jaccard/EFP Research Prize is awarded every three years.
Prof. Dr. Janbernd Kirschner’s last day as W3 Professor at the Center of Pediatric Medicine was February 28, 2022. He has taken up a new role as W3 Professor for Neuropediatrics at the University of Freiburg and Medical Director of the Clinic for Neuropediatrics and Muscular Disorders at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg.
PD Dr. Niels Lemmermann has been appointed Assistant Professor (W1) for Vaccine Research at the Institute for Virology on a three-year contract with effect from August 1, 2022.
Assistant Professor Dr. Kathrin Leppek has been appointed Assistant Professor (W1) for Immunobiochemistry at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology on a three-year contract with effect from January 3, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Martin E. Schwab has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Medicine. Through his fundamental studies in the field of regeneration research, he has made a major contribution to the range of treatments available to patients with brain and spinal cord injuries and in promoting their functional improvement. “His work has dispelled the myth that the brain and spinal cord cannot regenerate themselves and stands as a shining example of research in the neurosciences,” says Prof. Dr. Frank Bradke from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). Prof. Schwab previously held the post of Professor for Neurosciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the Brain Research Institute at the University of Zurich (UZH). He is currently Senior Professor at UZH’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He has links to the University of Bonn through his work on various bodies and, among other things, has been a member of the expert committee for the German government’s Excellence Strategy.
Philosophische Fakultät
Prof. Dr. Elke Brüggen from the Department of German and Comparative Literature and Culture, is to take up the role of Senior Professor with teaching duties from August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2025.
Dr. Christopher Busch has been appointed Assistant Professor (W1) for Modern German Literature (contemporary literary research) in the Department of German and Comparative Literature and Culture on a three-year contract with effect from May 15, 2022.
Sigmar Gabriel from the Department for Political Sciences and Sociology has been appointed an Honorary Professor by the University of Bonn. The former German foreign minister has already spent time as a contract lecturer at the University of Bonn, back in 2018, when he focused on future of European integration. In the summer semester 2022, he delivered the Bachelor of Arts seminar on German–American relations as seen by the media.
PD Dr. Susanne Gruß has been engaged to cover the Professorship for English Literature (W2) at the Institute of English Studies, American Studies and Celtic Studies from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht from the Department of Philosophy is to take up the role of Distinguished Professor Emeritus with teaching duties from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024.
PD Dr. Axel Bernd Kunze has been a member of the German Federal Association of Protestant Training Institutions for Social Education (Bundesverband evangelischer Ausbildungsstätten für Sozialpädagogik, BeA) since February 2022. Part of the Protestant Agency for Diakonie and Development (Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung, EWDE), this professional association represents over 50 member colleges across Germany that train some 10,000 teachers every year.
Prof. Dr. Bianca Kühnel from the Department of Art History is to take up the role of Distinguished Professor Emerita with teaching duties from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024.
Dr. Ekaterina Makhotina is covering the Professorship for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (W2) in the Department of History from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Associate Professor Dr. Luis Placencia has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Practical Philosophy and the Philosophy of Antiquity (W2) in the Department of Philosophy from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Huw Price from the Center for Science and Thought (CST) is to take up the role of Distinguished Professor Emeritus with teaching duties from February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2024.
PD Dr. Elisabeth Reber has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Applied English Linguistics/Varieties of English (W2) at the Institute of English Studies, American Studies and Celtic Studies from April 1 to September 30, 2022.
Assistant Professor Dr. Ulrike Saß’s last day as Assistant Professor (W1) in the Department of Art History was May 31, 2022. She has now taken up a post at the Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig.
Apl. Prof. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher is to continue covering the Professorship for Islamic Studies (W3) in the Department of Oriental and Asian Studies beyond March 31, 2022. Her part-time contract (50% full-time equivalent) is now due to end on September 30, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Soeffner from the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW) is to remain in his role of Senior Professor with teaching duties beyond February 28, 2022. His contract is now due to end on February 29, 2024.
Dr. Felix Tacke is to continue covering the Professorship for Romance Philology/Linguistics (W2) in the Department for Classical and Romance Philology beyond March 31, 2022. His contract is now due to end on September 30, 2022.
PD Dr. Henning Türk has been engaged to cover the Professorship for Modern and Contemporary History (W2) in the Department of History from April 1 to August 31, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Michael Zeuske from the Department of English Studies, American Studies and Celtic Studies is to remain Senior Professor with teaching duties beyond July 31, 2022. His contract is now due to end on December 31, 2025.
Faculty of Agriculture
Prof. Dr. Wulf Amelung from INRES, General Soil Science and Soil Ecology, has been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, specifically into its Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences section. Prof. Amelung has been Director of the Agrosphere Institute at Forschungszentrum Jülich since 2011 and has taught general soil science and soil ecology in the University of Bonn’s Faculty of Agriculture since 2004.
Prof. Dr. Joachim Freiherr von Braun, Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), is to remain in his role of Senior Professor with teaching duties beyond February 28, 2022. His contract is now due to end on February 29, 2024.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Döring from INRES, Agroecology and Organic Farming, was appointed as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection (WBAE) by Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, for a three-year term on February 1, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Silke Hüttel’s last day as W3 Professor at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics was March 31, 2022. She has now taken up a position at the University of Göttingen.
PD Dr. Alisher Mirzabaev has been engaged to cover the Professorship for the Economics of Production (W3) at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Dr. Ernst Tholen is to continue covering the Professorship for Animal Husbandry (W3) at the Institute of Animal Sciences beyond March 31, 2022. His contract is now due to end on March 31, 2023.
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Prof. Dr. Thomas Bartolomaeus was re-elected Dean of Studies by the faculty council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences on April 1, 2022.
Dr. Leonie Esters has been appointed Assistant Professor (W1) for Climate Dynamics at the Institute of Geosciences on a three-year contract with effect from April 1, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Ulrich B. Kaupp from the Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES) is to take up the role of Senior Professor with teaching duties from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025.
Prof. Dr. Jens Lehmann left his role as W3 Professor at the Institute for Computer Science at his own request on May 31, 2022. He is to take up a new position at Amazon.
Prof. Dr. Peter Scholze, head of the Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry Working Group at the Mathematical Institute, has been elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) by the Royal Society. Besides his professorship at the University of Bonn, the 2018 Fields Medal winner is also Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics. Prof. Scholze’s research focuses on arithmetic geometry, a field in which he is regarded as the leading mathematician of his generation. With his theory of perfectoid spaces, he introduced some innovative ideas into the discipline and brought about advances in this and related areas through his perspective. His thinking has had a particularly significant influence on the design of Galois representations, p-adic Hodge theory and the theory of automorphic forms.
Guests invited by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Prof. Dr. Gergely Csiky, ancient and early (world) history, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary, Humboldt Research Fellowship for experienced researchers, host: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jan Bemmann, Department of Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology
Dr. Luc Dessart, astrophysics and astronomy, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France, Humboldt Research Prize, host: Prof. Dr. Norbert Langer, Argelander Institute for Astronomy
Dr. habil. Véronique Gayrard, stochastics, probability theory, Aix-Marseille Université, France, Humboldt Research Prize, host: Prof. Dr. Anton Bovier, Institute for Applied Mathematics
Dr. Liping He, elementary particle physics, Ohio State University, U.S., Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers, host: Prof. Dr. Ulf-Gerrit Meißner, Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics
Dr. Ryan Kemp, medieval history, Aberystwyth University, U.K., Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers, host: PD Dr. Alheydis Plassmann, Department of History
Obituaries
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Gester passed away on December 29, 2021 aged 90. He studied English and German language and literature in Cologne, Tübingen and Bonn and completed his doctorate in 1967. Prof. Gester worked in the English Department at the University of Bonn, first as a teacher and then as a senior teacher and professor. He was well-known for his affinity for interdisciplinarity, which was reflected in his interest in modern and historical linguistics, cultural studies and philology.
Prof. Dr. Frank Hinterberger has passed away aged 82. He enriched the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn with his work on accelerator physics and remained a highly respected member of the academic teaching body until his retirement in 2004. The work that he did to develop and understand ion optics for accelerators set new standards well beyond the institute’s own boundaries.
Matina Hohensee passed away on March 23, 2022 aged 59. She had worked at the University of Bonn since January 1, 1991, most recently in the dean’s office at the Faculty of Agriculture.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. agr. habil. i.R. Karl-Hans Kromer passed away aged 85 on April 29, 2022. His university education in engineering sciences took him from Dresden to Stuttgart. He finished his work as a research assistant in 1967, completing his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich (Weihenstephan Campus). After holding an executive position in the agricultural engineering industry, Prof. Kromer moved on to the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the Technical University of Munich, where he set up its Department of Horticultural Sciences. He was appointed to a professorship at the University of Bonn’s Institute of Agricultural Engineering in 1993, going on to spend over 25 years as its director. His achievements during this time included creating the ARTS (Agricultural Sciences and Resource Management in the Tropics and Subtropics) postgraduate course and helping to set up the internationally renowned CIGR General Secretariat. His research projects on growing and harvesting sugar beet and fiber crops attracted particular recognition. Prof. Kromer coined the term “biosystems engineering” and made the issues of the environment and resource conservation an integral part of his work.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ursula Lehr passed away on April 25, 2022 aged 91. She studied psychology, philosophy, German language and literature, and art history at the Universities of Bonn and Frankfurt am Main, ultimately qualifying as a psychologist (Diplom). She completed her doctorate in 1954 and her habilitation in 1968, before being appointed an adjunct professor the following year. Following a professorship in education and educational psychology at the University of Cologne, she was appointed Professor of Psychology at the University of Bonn in 1975. Prof. Lehr held Germany’s first chair in gerontology at the University of Heidelberg from 1986 to 1998, also being named Honorary Professor of Gerontology at the University of Bonn in 1987. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Fribourg in 1988. The same year, she was also appointed Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, a post she held until 1991. Throughout her academic and political career, she was particularly committed to the cause of working women and was a pioneer in psychological gerontology. She was responsible for establishing gerontology as a discipline in its own right, which transformed how society saw elderly people. As a minister, she set up the German Centre of Gerontology (DZFA) and was awarded the Cross of Merit, First Class and the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Fritz Müller passed away on January 31, 2022 aged 94. After studying pharmacy in Tübingen, he completed his doctorate in Kiel, also obtaining his habilitation there in 1965. He was appointed Professor for Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Bonn in 1972. Focusing his research on tableting using rapid measurements of force and displacement, Prof. Müller was a highly valued university lecturer. Among other things, he performed pioneering work on the statistical analysis of quality-determining characteristics of pharmaceutical dosage forms.
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Otto passed away on January 30, 2022 aged 95. He obtained his doctorate from the Institute of Physiology and Chemistry in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn. After spending time at the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Otto completed his Habilitation in physiological chemistry in 1963 and was appointed University Professor in Bonn in 1970. He was also appointed Head of the Department of Enzymology at the Institute of Physiology and Chemistry (renamed the Institute of Biochemistry in 2008), which he led for over 20 years. Within the field of physiological chemistry, his main research interest lay in enzymology, to which he applied a wide range of methods and academic approaches.
Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Rüther passed away on April 20, 2022 aged 95. His studies at the University of Münster took in botany, zoology, physiological chemistry and education. He was awarded the doctoral title “Dr. rer. nat.” in 1966. In 1970, he took up a position as Professor of Biology Didactics at the Rhineland University of Education, Bonn Section. Besides being involved in biodidactics periodicals as the author of numerous articles, he was also co-editor and co-author of a multi-volume biology textbook entitled Kennzeichen des Lebendigen (“Signs of Life”).
Prof. Dr. Karl Scherer passed away on January 8, 2022 aged 79. He joined the University of Bonn in 1975, serving as Chairperson of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department in 1989/1990 alongside his professorship in Applied Mathematics. He was Managing Director of the Institute for Applied Mathematics from 2002 to 2006 and was released from his teaching obligations on age grounds in 2007. Prof. Scherer was a researcher of international renown in the field of approximation theory.
Peter Schwanenberg passed away on June 10, 2022 aged 75. With his extensive specialist knowledge and exceptional dedication, Peter Schwanenberg made a significant contribution to the development and maintenance of the University’s buildings in his work for the construction authorities (later BLB). The University Senate awarded him the Medal of the University of Bonn in 2008 in recognition of his services.
Prof. Dr. med. Hanns Martin Seitz passed away on March 8, 2022 aged 83. He studied medicine in Munich and completed his doctorate in 1964. This was followed by a stint at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he completed his postgraduate studies with a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He received his license to practice medicine in 1967 and obtained his habilitation in tropical medicine at the Institute for Tübingen Tropical Medicine in 1975. The main highlights of Prof. Seitz’s time in Tübingen were the periods he spent in Kenya and Nigeria for various study and research purposes. He was appointed Professor of Medical Parasitology at the University of Bonn on July 1, 1980 and would go on to head the institute of the same name for 23 years. Besides his work as a physician, he was also Dean of the Faculty of Medicine as well as Vice Rector and Chairperson of the Commission for Research and Early-Career Researchers at the University. In his research work, Prof. Seitz was particularly interested in diagnostic issues in parasitology that were intended to be suited to conditions in developing countries through their practicability. He also ran a specialist outpatient clinic whose reputation extended far beyond the boundaries of the local area.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Horst Stoeckel passed away on March 24, 2022 aged 91. He was appointed to the newly established Chair for Anesthesiology in 1974 and was Director of what was then the Institute for Anesthesiology, another recent creation. Prof. Stoeckel studied medicine at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and went to Heidelberg in the 1960s, where he became a specialist medical practitioner and senior physician. His achievements at the University of Bonn include establishing clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics as a research focus for general and regional anesthetics at the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine. One of Prof. Stoeckel’s main fields of research was the formulation of optimized dosing strategies backed up by sound science: as long ago as the 1970s, he broke free of the thematic strictures of medicine and collaborated with both physicists and chemists. His interdisciplinary team succeeded in developing a method that enabled people to control their own anesthesia. He founded and spent more than 20 years as director of the Horst Stoeckel Museum for the History of Anesthesia, which is Europe’s largest collection of this kind and which can now be visited online. Prof. Stoeckel holds honorary doctorates from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Medical University of Łódź and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1992.
Marking 25 years of service
Eva Bezzeg-Frölich, Section 6.3—International Study Programs in Bonn, on March 8, 2022
Nicole Diel, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, on June 16, 2022
Norbert Grötsch, Department of Geography, on January 2, 2022
Dr. Jörg Hartmann, Data Protection Officer and IT Security Officer, on February 17, 2022
Prof. Dr. Britta Klagge, Department of Geography, on June 1, 2022
Michael Lange, Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), on January 3, 2022
Prof. Dr. Marc Laureys, Department for Classical and Romance Philology, on February 1, 2022
Iris Martins, Division 3—Human Resources, on July 3, 2022
Dr. Barbara Mohr, Clinic and Polyclinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Plastic Surgery, on July 28, 2022
Dipl.-Ing. Frank Möseler, Faculty of Catholic Theology, on March 1, 2022
Dr. Ulrike Pag, Division 7—Research and Innovation Services (RIS), on January 1, 2022
Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, on March 17, 2022
Prof. Dr. Christian Putensen, Clinic and Polyclinic for Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine, on January 1, 2022
Anna Trimborn, Department of History, on February 11, 2022
Dr. Andrea Ulshöfer, Faculty of Protestant Theology, on June 17, 2022
Marking 40 years of service
Prof. Dr. Alexandros Filippou, Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, on May 1, 2022
Harriet Hunter, INRES—Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, on August 2, 2022
Prof. Dr. Thomas Klockgether, Neurology Clinic, on June 8, 2022
Ursula Kolbig, Section 4.6—Commercial Facility Management, on June 7, 2022
Michael Kortmann, Institute of Physics, on July 4, 2022
Georg Oleschinski, Institute of Geosciences, Department of Paleontology, on August 10, 2022
Karsten Weber, Section 4.5—Construction, subject area fire safety, on August 1, 2022
Abschied in den Ruhestand
Ralf Block, Section 3.3—Academic Staff, at the end of June 2022
Prof. Dr. Carl-Friedrich Bödigheimer, Mathematical Institute, at the end of August 2022
Prof. Dr. Elke Brüggen, Department of German and Comparative Literature and Culture, at the end of July 2022
Dr. Thomas Burkhardt, Institute of Geosciences, at the end of March 2022
Prof. Dr. Theo Kötter, Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation, at the end of August 2022
Franz Laumen, Section 2.1—Large Technical Devices, at the end of April 2022
Prof. Dr. Winfried Schenk, Department of Geography, at the end of August 2022
Dr. Birgit Tappert, Department for Classical and Romance Philology, at the end of August 2022