Claus Mattheck

Claus Mattheck (born November 11, 1947 in Dresden ) is Professor of Damage Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (see also Materials Science ). Among other things, he developed the visual tree assessment method for examining trees based on their external shape.

Life

After graduating from high school, Mattheck studied physics at the Technical University of Dresden . He received his doctorate in theoretical physics in Jena in 1973. In 1978 he was deported from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany , after having been imprisoned in Cottbus for two years in 1976 for attempting to escape . In 1985 he received his habilitation in damage science at the University of Karlsruhe . Since then he has been head of the Biomechanics department at the Karlsruhe Research Center .

Mattheck also works as a publicly appointed and sworn expert for "Mechanics and fracture behavior of trees and the phenomenology of wood decomposition by fungi" and for "Fatigue fractures of mechanical elements".

plant

Mattheck places particular emphasis on mediating between science and society. In his books, illustrated with his own cartoons, he conveys the apparently uninteresting material for laypeople in a catchy way, also understandable for children and young people.

Mattheck is one of the scientists who have achieved worldwide recognition in various disciplines. He succeeded in doing this in two very different areas, mechanical engineering and tree care. He is considered a pioneer in bionics . As early as the mid-1980s, he looked from the trees to see how a maximum of stability can be achieved with a minimal use of material: In nature, the tree compensates for increased tension by adding more wood to the more heavily stressed areas, i.e. grows over in a tension-optimized manner. Mattheck transferred this to a computer program that the industry uses to optimize its components. Thanks to the lightweight construction principle of trees, for example, engine mountings are now half lighter and much more resilient than in the past. The shape optimization is calculated with the help of high-performance computers using the so-called finite element method , a mathematical process.

With the book Why everything goes broken - form and failure in nature and technology , a spoken, largely formula-free damage theory was presented for the first time. The real breakthrough in the direction of simplicity was in 2005 with the development of the "tensile triangle method" for notch shape optimization. A simple set square is now enough to optimize components based on nature's example. This can go in the direction of fatigue strength, but also in the direction of lightweight construction. Since the “tensile triangle method” always results in the same optimal notch contour, which only needs to be enlarged or reduced in a shape-like manner, one can speak of a “universal notch contour” within still unknown limits. It will go into the CAD systems. The result would be optimization at the click of a mouse.

The book Thinking Tools According to Nature shows how shear stresses are "defused" in nature with 45-degree angles in leaves, bird feathers, branches, twigs, tree forks, mammalian and fish bones and which thinking tools can be developed from them. With the thinking tools of the pull triangles, pushing squares and the force cone method, Mattheck gives instructions for understanding seeing in nature and technology. On the one hand, this results in a kind of "folk mechanics" without formulas of almost universal scope and entry into a geometric natural science, on the other hand there are many approaches for designers to find optimal designs for many construction problems.

The books Why everything goes broken and thinking tools based on nature are the cornerstones of largely formula-free folk mechanics for damage science and damage prevention. In 2014, in collaboration with Klaus Bethge and Karlheinz Weber, The Body Language of Trees - Encyclopedia of Visual Tree Assessment was published . In this book, the VTA method is summarized in an updated state on over 500 pages. In 2017, Mattheck's book The Body Language of Components - Encyclopedia of Form Finding According to Nature , was published, in which he demonstrates a community of forms between animate and inanimate nature and shows universal forms that can also arise through deformation or erosion, sometimes even through failure.

In addition to his actual profession, Mattheck publishes books: The 2009 book movement traces is about human body language. Here he shows parallels between the contingency of humans and the negative geotropism of plants. The book The Mechanics of the Slingshot was published in 2013, it is a guide to responsible slingshot shooting as well as the design principles of the slingshot, and it conveys mechanical fun in traditional toys.

Mattheck developed the Visual Tree Assessment (VTA), a method for checking the mechanical strength of a tree , in which various defect symptoms that deviate from the optimal shape of the tree are examined.

Mattheck published over 15 books and was granted about 13 patents.

In 2003 Mattheck received the German Environmental Award for his previous scientific life's work.

Science awards

• 1991: 3rd Science Prize from the Industrial Research Foundation
• 1992: 2nd literary prize for technology journalists from the Karl Theodor Vogel Foundation
• 1993: Georg Winter Award from the European Society of Biomaterials
• 1997: Honorary Membership of the International Society of Arboriculture (England - Ireland Chapter) for the development of the VTA method for tree diagnosis
• 1998: Science Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences donated by the Gottlieb-Daimler and Karl-Benz Foundation
• 1998: Chadwick Award of Arboricultural Research of the International Society of Arboriculture
• 1999: Henry Ford European Conservation Award (environmental technology)
• 1999: Werner and Inge Grüter Prize for Science Communication
• 2002: Annual Award Arboricultural Association, England
• 2003: Honorary Membership of the Urban Tree Diagnosis Association Japan
• 2003: German Environment Prize
• 2008: Honorary Advisor of the Urban Tree Diagnosis Association Japan

Publications

• 1992: The tree as an autobiography. Thalacker, Braunschweig, ISBN 3-87815-050-4
• 1994: Handbook of Damage Studies for Trees. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau, ISBN 3-7930-9085-X
• 1997: Tree control with VTA. Professional guidance and legal protection. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau, ISBN 3-7930-9153-8
• 1997: Wood, The Internal Optimization of Trees. Springer, Berlin ISBN 3-540-62019-2
• 1999: Stupsi explains the tree, A hedgehog explains the body language of the trees. 4th edition, 2010, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 3-923704-20-8
• 2001: Paperback book of the wood rot in the tree. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 3-923704-28-3
• 2002: Mechanics on the tree. Verlag Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, ISBN 3-923704-39-9
• 2003: Why everything breaks: Form and failure in nature and technology. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 3-923704-41-0
• 2006: Hidden Gestalt laws of nature. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 978-3-923704-53-8
• 2006: design in nature. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau, ISBN 3-7930-9150-3
• 2007: Updated field instructions for tree controls with VTA. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 978-3-923704-58-3
• 2009: Traces of movement - a mechanical interpretation of body language. Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, ISBN 978-3-923704-68-2
• 2010: Thinking tools based on nature. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - North Campus, ISBN 978-3-923704-73-6
• 2013: The mechanics of the slingshot. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - North Campus, ISBN 978-3-923704-83-5
• 2014: The Body Language of Trees - Encyclopedia of Visual Tree Assessment. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - North Campus, ISBN 978-3-923704-86-6
• 2017: The body language of the components - encyclopedia of form finding according to nature . Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - North Campus, ISBN 978-3-923704-91-0
• 2018: The stick - your friend, your protection; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology 2018; ISBN 978-3-923704-94-1

Web links

• Literature by and about Claus Mattheck in the catalog of the German National Library
• Information on tree care and tree protection
• To the VTA method
• Homepage of Claus Mattheck

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Employee - Claus Mattheck at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Applied Materials (IAM), Materials and Biomechanics (WB), online at IAM.KIT.edu, accessed on January 23, 2017.
2. ↑ CV. Online at Mattheck.de, accessed January 23, 2017.
3. ↑ Claudia Wüstenhagen: Biomechanics: Ask the tree. In: The time. November 15, 2007, accessed December 19, 2018.
4. ↑ Manfred Lindinger: Learning from the eddies in wood . Ed .: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 2nd September 2017.
5. ↑ German Federal Environment Foundation: German Environment Prize 2003 - Prof. Dr. Claus Mattheck. From DBU.de, accessed on January 23, 2017.
6. ↑ LC Chadwick Award of Arboricultural Research: ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1998 - Claus Mattheck. Online at ISA-Arbor.com, accessed January 23, 2017. 
7. ↑ Werner and Inge Grüter Prize for Science Communication: Previous winners: 1999 - Friedemann Schrenk / Claus Mattheck. Online at Grueter-Stiftung.de, accessed on January 23, 2017.