Berndt Feuerbacher

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Berndt Feuerbacher

Berndt Feuerbacher (born April 15, 1940 in Dresden ) is a German physicist . From 1981 to 2007 he was director of the Institute for Space Simulation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne-Porz. At the same time he was professor for experimental physics and holder of the chair for space physics at the Ruhr University Bochum . From 2008 to 2012 Berndt Feuerbacher was President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). After founding president Eugen Sänger in 1951, he was the second German to take over this office.

The main focus of Berndt Feuerbacher's research is space physics, in particular the use of weightlessness in space. He also initiated a new research area in his institute to study comets. Feuerbacher was involved in numerous space missions such as Spacelab, Mir and the international space station ISS. He is the scientific initiator of the "Philae" landing unit, which flew to comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko on the Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency ESA and landed there on November 12, 2014.

biography

After graduating from the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart, Feuerbacher studied physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and received his doctorate there in 1968 with a thesis on optically excited plasma effects on aluminum in an ultra-high vacuum . From 1968 to 1981 he worked as a scientist at the European Space Laboratory (ESLAB) of the European Space Agency ESRO, today ESA , since 1972 as Principal Investigator for experiments on lunar rocks of the Apollo program , and since 1973 as Deputy Head of the Astronomy Division at the Space Science Department ESA. In addition, from 1973 to 1976 he was project scientist for the research satellite International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and from 1976 to 1981 project scientist for the first payload of the space laboratory Spacelab . In 1981, Feuerbacher was appointed to the Ruhr University in Bochum and, at the same time, director of the DLR Institute for Room Simulation. From 1991 to 1993 he was founding director at the DLR Center Berlin-Adlershof and built up the institutes for space sensors and planetary exploration, now the Institute for Planetary Research. After his retirement in 2007 he was founding director of the DLR Institute for Space Systems in Bremen. From 2008 to 2012 he was President of the International Astronautical Federation . He is also a member of various advisory boards, boards of trustees and senate committees of scientific institutions and advises the European Space Agency ESA .

Berndt Feuerbacher is married and has two children.

Publications

  • Berndt Feuerbacher, Ernst Messerschmid: From space to everyday life: Space - laboratory and marketplace . 1st edition. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02785-5 , p. 316 .
  • Berndt Feuerbacher: Mission Rosetta. The spectacular journey of the Philae probe to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko or Churi. An illustrated book about the space mission of ESA and DLR from planet earth to comet. Geramond Verlag GmbH, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-86245-335-1 , p. 192 .
  • Berndt Feuerbacher: Planets - missions to exotic worlds . Illustrated book published by Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-613-04026-7 , 240 pages.

Awards and honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Berndt Feuerbacher becomes honorary member of the DGLR , November 6, 2019, press release of the German Aerospace Society
personal data
SURNAME Feuerbacher, Berndt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Feuerbacher, Berndt Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden