Folker Wittmann

Folker Helfrid Wittmann (born April 20, 1936 in Karlsruhe ) is a German physicist and professor emeritus. His specialty is the physics of materials with special consideration of the durability of cement-bound materials.

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After graduating from high school, Wittmann studied physics and mathematics at the Technical University of Karlsruhe (today KIT) at the Markgrafen-Gymnasium in Karlsruhe-Durlach . After completing his intermediate diploma, he moved to the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich. With a diploma thesis in the field of optics, he completed his studies in physics in 1961. In 1965 he received his doctorate with a thesis on the Mössbauer effect at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). There he completed his habilitation in 1969 with a thesis on the physical principles of the properties of building materials. Until 1976 he headed the Department of Materials Physics at TUM as a Scientific Councilor. Until 1980 he held the chair for building materials at the Technical University in Delft (Netherlands). From 1980 to 1988 he was professor for materials science at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and at the same time director of the official materials testing center. Until his retirement in 2001 he was professor for building materials at the ETH Zurich . To date, he heads the Research Center for Durable Construction Materials at Qingdao Technological University in Qingdao, China. At the same time he is director of the Aedificat Institute Freiburg in Freiburg im Breisgau.

Wittmann was visiting professor at Leeds University (GB), Politecnico di Milano, Italy, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, Tongji University, Shanghai, and Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

In his scientific work, Wittmann first dealt with the contrast transfer function and apodization in optics. Then he examined, among other things, the colloidal properties of the hydration products of the cement with the help of Mössbauer spectroscopy . For many years, research on the physics of creep and shrinkage of concrete in the foreground. From 1970 onwards, he mainly devoted himself to the fracture mechanics of composite materials. He was instrumental in the development of non-linear fracture mechanics . After 1990 he concentrated on the basics of the durability of building materials in aggressive environments.

From 1985 to 1987 Wittmann was President of the International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (IASMiRT), from 1994 to 1996 President of the International Association of Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures (IA-FraMCoS) and from 1995 to 1997 President of the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials (RILEM). From 2001 to 2003 Wittmann was the founding president of the International Association for Creep and Shrinkage of Concrete (IA-CONCREEP). Wittmann was president of numerous RILEM technical commissions.

Wittmann is married and has four children.

Awards

Wittmann has been a member of the Russian Academy of Technological Sciences since 1991, since 1995 an honorary member of the WTA, Scientific-Technical Working Group for Building Preservation and Monument Preservation, and since 2008 an honorary member of the RILEM, International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures.

• 1976 RILEM Medal for fundamental research, the basis of the Munich model
• 1988 appointment as honorary professor at EPFL
• 1998 Honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing.hc) from the University of Duisburg-Essen
• 2010 Award of the PRC for International Cooperation in Science and Technology
• 2013 Honorary Citizen of Shandong Province, China
• 2014 Yuri Gagarin Medal by Russian Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering

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More than 500 publications in leading international scientific journals and in report volumes of international conferences.

• Founder and editor of the international magazine "Restoration of Buildings and Monuments"
• Member of the Board of Editors of several international journals such as Cement and Concrete Research
• Editor of more than 20 volumes of reports from international conferences
• Festschrift Wittmann, Advances in Building Materials Science, Aedificatio Publishers (1996)

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