Dietbert Knöfel

Dietbert Knöfel (born May 28, 1936 in Ebersbach / Sa. ) Is a German mineralogist and building materials scientist . He shaped university building chemistry in Germany for many years .

Live and act

Knöfel graduated from high school in Pirna and then began studying mining at the Senftenberg engineering school . After moving to the Federal Republic of Germany, he had to make up his West Abitur here and studied mineralogy in Göttingen and Tübingen from 1955 , where he also received his doctorate in 1962.

He then worked at Heidelberger Zement AG in a leading position in the central research and advice center. In 1969 he switched to the engineering school for civil engineering in Siegen . After teaching for a few years, he followed a call to the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart and after a renewed appointment in 1980 he returned to the university, which had meanwhile been transferred to the University of Siegen , where he founded the laboratory for building and materials chemistry. In 1984 he completed his habilitation at the Philipps University of Marburg with the thesis: " Portland cement clinker - taking into account the elements present in low concentrations". After rejecting two calls for C4 professorships in Berlin (1985) and Kassel (1991), he accepted a professorship for building and materials chemistry at the University of Siegen in 1993, which he held until he retired from active service.

In addition to his teaching activities at the University of Siegen, Knöfel also took on teaching duties at the Institute for Mineralogy at the University of Marburg, at the Institute for Building Material Technology and Solid Construction at the University of Karlsruhe (1977–1988) and at the former engineering school in Mainz (1964–1968) ).

His teaching activity was not limited to the university, he also made a name for himself in many national and international courses in professional further education. a. in the Haus der Technik (Essen) , in the Institute for Further Technical Training in Zurich, in the Engineering House in Vienna and at the Technical Academy in Esslingen .

Knöfel was involved in national and international bodies, including a. He was president of the RILEM commission “Aging of stone monuments”, second chairman of the Scientific and Technical Working Group for Building Preservation and Monument Preservation (WTA) and a member of DIN standards committees . Knöfel was a founding member and the first chairman of the construction chemistry department of the Society of German Chemists .

Knöfel dealt with cement and other binding agents , for example building plaster, building lime, swelling and quick binding agents , with special mortars, with questions of durability and building protection as well as with building maintenance and repair in general. Questions related to the preservation of historical monuments were always of greater importance.

Knöfel is the author of over 280 publications in magazines or series of publications and has published four books, some of which have been translated into several languages. His book Baustoffchemie, written together with Otto Henning and first published in 1975, has been continued by D. Stephan since the 7th edition (2014). He was the referee or co-referee for more than 50 dissertations and more than 240 diploma theses were written under his direction.

Awards

• Hans-Kühl Medal of the Building Chemistry Section of the Society of German Chemists (2005)
• Georg Agricola Medal of the German Mineralogical Society (1999)

Web links

• Literature by and about Dietbert Knöfel in the catalog of the German National Library

supporting documents

• Karl Georg Böttger u. a. (Ed.): Construction chemistry today: facts, models, applications . Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Prof. Dr. D. Knöfel. Dissertation printing Darmstadt, 1996.
• Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar . Verlag de Gruyter, Munich 2014.