Franz Mesch

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Franz Mesch - in typical posture

Franz Mesch (born November 7, 1932 in Belgrade ) is a German engineer and professor of measurement and control engineering at the University of Karlsruhe , Faculty of Mechanical Engineering; since 2009 further developed to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), university part.

Career

Franz Mesch was born in Belgrade , then the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . His father was the graduate engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) Wilhelm Mesch , at the time director of the AEG agency in Belgrade and later in Prague / Czechoslovakia , after the end of the war director of the “Wesertal” GmbH electricity company in Hameln . His mother was his wife Elvira Mesch , b. Jantscher .

From 1939 to 1942 Franz Mesch attended the German-Serbian elementary school in Belgrade , where reading and writing were taught simultaneously in German and Serbian (so he was already using the Cyrillic script when Sütterlin was still being learned in Germany ). He continued his school education in 1942 and 1943 at the German elementary school in Prague . After that he attended the German High School for Boys in Prague until 1945 . After the war he was a student at the Leopoldinum in Detmold until 1949 , after which he was a member of the Schiller School in Hameln , where he graduated from high school in 1952 .

In 1952, studying electrical engineering took him to the Technical University of Hanover , where he received his intermediate diploma in 1954 with the grade “very good”. After that he moved to the Technical University of Darmstadt , where he received his degree as a 1957 graduate engineer gained (Dipl.-Ing.) For electrical engineering, specializing in power engineering with "distinction". He received the "Academic Prize of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for excellent performance in the main diploma examination in the academic year 1957". During his studies, he completed various industrial internships totaling 18 months, including at Siemens in Barcelona / Spain .

Working in industry and universities

He started his career in the spring of 1957 at Siemens-Schuckertwerke in Hanover . From mid-1958 he worked for Winfried Oppelt at the Technical University of Darmstadt as a research assistant and from 1960 as a research assistant. Mesch, along with Manfred Thoma , K. Barth, R. Bräu and Günther Schmidt, was one of the early assistants of the chair and institute for control engineering founded in 1957 under the direction of Winfried Oppelt . Here Mesch received his doctorate in 1964 with a dissertation on the subject of “Self-adjusting control systems with special consideration of the measurement time” with the rating “with distinction”. This scientific work and the accompanying publications made Mesch known nationally and internationally for the first time in specialist circles.

After receiving his doctorate, Mesch worked in aircraft construction at the Dornier works in Friedrichshafen as the deputy head of the control engineering and electronics department until mid-1967 . The focus of this successful industrial activity included the development of the attitude control system for the first German vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft DO 31 as well as the passive magnetic attitude control of the first German earth satellite AZUR. From this research and development work, trend-setting technical and scientific publications emerged, which contributed to Mesch's further popularity.

His appointment as a full professor at the newly established chair for measurement and control technology in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe was only 35 when he was only 35 in mid-1967. From the winter semester of 1968 he was director of the institute of the same name and of the machine laboratory. Mesch performed these appointments until his retirement. In the early years he had to do a lot of development work in order to create a teaching and research facility that is characterized by competence and efficiency and is one of the most renowned university institutions in the field of measurement and control technology. In the initial phase, he was supported in a variety of ways by his first scientific assistant, Reinhart Lunderstädt , who was also able to acquire a solid basis for his own later development as a professor of automation technology at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg .

Franz Mesch - the thinker (2001)

In his university research work , Mesch has primarily dealt with metrological issues , always preferring holistic and system-based processing as well as applications in mechanical engineering. Mesch's work is particularly focused on stochastic measurement signals and correlation methods in various applications. Examples are the non-contact speed measurement for moving surfaces, for flows of two-phase fluids and for particle flows. Furthermore, he has carried out fundamental investigations into rough surfaces, quality control of piece goods and flow material processes, self-monitoring of measuring systems and the use of tomographic methods in measurement technology.

In connection with his research, Mesch was very keen to promote the next generation of academics, which is particularly evident in the supervision of almost 60 dissertations and habilitation theses. Many of his former students, doctoral candidates and post-doctoral candidates achieved positions of responsibility in industry and were appointed as professors at universities or colleges. He also worked for many years as an expert on measurement technology for the German Research Foundation (DFG).

As chairman and founding member, he was a member of several specialist committees of the VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (GMA) in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt / Main, which is also the national member organization of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) and the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO) is. The former GDR was represented in IFAC and IMEKO by the Scientific and Technical Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (WGMA) in the Berlin Chamber of Technology (last chairman: Heinz Töpfer , then Werner Richter ). Franz Mesch maintained close contacts with this group of experts. These go back to the founding of the first institute for control engineering in German-speaking countries: 1955 at the TH Dresden by Heinrich Kindler , 1957 at the TH Darmstadt by Winfried Oppelt (where Franz Mesch obtained his doctorate) and at the RWTH Aachen by Otto Schäfer .

Franz Mesch and Martin Polke (left) in a technical discussion on controlling moving objects (2001)

These contacts were continued by their academic students in West and East, so that particularly close relationships developed between the later professorships of Manfred Thoma (Hanover), Günther Schmidt (Munich), Franz Mesch (Karlsruhe), Heinz Töpfer (Magdeburg, Dresden) , Hans-Joachim Zander (Dresden), Karl Reinisch (Ilmenau), Martin Polke (Aachen) and others. Mesch regularly took part in the International Scientific Colloquia (IWK) of the TH Ilmenau. He was also one of the first measurement and automation technicians in the Federal Republic of Germany to work for several months in the former Soviet Union with the support of the DFG : At the Institute for Cybernetics , later named after the nationally and internationally well-known, highly decorated computer pioneer and cyberneticist Viktor Michailowitsch Gluschkow in Kiev , as a guest of the professors AG Iwachnenko and VM Kunzewitsch . In this way, Mesch contributed in many ways to ensuring that the scientific exchange between West and East was maintained during the Cold War . Here he benefited from his personal interest in foreign languages ​​"as the key to a country's culture"; In addition to English , he speaks fluent Spanish , Italian and French .

Mesch worked for many years in the International Metrological Confederation (IMEKO) , so in 1982 he chaired the program committee for the 9th IMEKO World Congress in Berlin (West), with which Tilo Pfeifer completed the first half of his IMEKO presidency from 1979 to 1985. Mesch was honored with the Otto Winkler Medal , the highest award of the GMA , for his special services in the field, including his work on the advisory board for the associated specialist journals .

Franz Mesch (right) as a science communicator - in conversation with the rector Sigmar Wittig (2001)

In the context of academic self-government, Mesch worked as vice dean and dean of his faculty for mechanical engineering as well as a member of the academic senate of his university and a member of over 40 appointment commissions of various faculties. When filling professorships, he showed perseverance and tenacity in order to attract the best minds. Mesch promoted the German-French course in mechanical engineering as a representative of his university and took on his own courses in France in the national language.

Franz Mesch performed this range of tasks until his retirement in March 2001. Mesch lives in Karlsruhe ; he was married from 1962 to 1999 and has two children.

Awards (selection)

  • 1974 call to the TH Darmstadt, professorship for measurement and control technology. Declined.
  • 1979 Call to the ETH Zurich / Switzerland, professorship for measurement and control technology (successor to Paul Profos). Declined.
  • 2001 Otto Winkler Medal of Honor as the highest award of the VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (GMA)
  • 2003 Distinguished Service Award from the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO)
  • 2004 Medal of Merit of the Fridericiana; University of Fridericiana in Karlsruhe
  • 2005 appointment as professor of the Chinese-German university college; Tongji University Shanghai .

Publications (selection)

  • Self-adjusting control systems with special consideration of the measuring time. Technical University of Darmstadt, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, dissertation from April 6, 1964.
  • Metrological internship for mechanical engineers and process engineers. Bibliographical Institute, Mannheim; Vienna; Zurich 1970.
  • Telekolleg, Part 2: Physical Technology. TR-Verlags-Union, Munich 1974, ISBN 978-3-8058-0382-3 (produced by Südwestfunk).
  • Franz Mesch (Ed.), L. Bartmann: Metrological internship for mechanical engineers and process engineers. Bibliographical Institute, Mannheim; Vienna; Zurich 1977, ISBN 978-3-411-05736-8 .
  • Telekolleg, Part 1: Physical Technology. TR-Verlags-Union, Munich 1980.
  • Franz Mesch (Ed.), L. Bartmann: Metrological internship for mechanical engineers and process engineers. Bibliographical Institute, Mannheim; Vienna; Zurich 1981, BI university pocket books, vol. 736, ISBN 978-3-411-06736-7 .
  • Telekolleg, Part 2: Physical Technology. 2nd Edition. TR-Verlags-Union, Munich 1982, ISBN 978-3-8058-1291-7 .
  • Telekolleg, Part 2: Physical Technology. 3rd, revised edition. TR-Verlags-Union, Munich 1986, ISBN 978-3-8058-1291-7 .
  • Classic, reread: W. Oppelt, Small manual of technical control processes. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 35, 1987, pp. 221-224.
  • Telekolleg, Part 2: Physical Technology. 4th revised edition. TR-Verlags-Union, Munich 1988, ISBN 978-3-8058-1291-7 .
  • Karl Heinz Fasol , Rudolf Lauber; Franz Mesch, Heinrich Rake , Manfred Thoma , Heinz Töpfer : Great Names and the Early Days of Control in Germany. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 54, No. 9, 2006, pp. 462-472.

literature

  • Manfred Thoma : Heinz Töpfer 60 years. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 38, No. 7, 1990, pp. 245-246.
  • Heinz Töpfer : Honorary doctorate for Manfred Thoma. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 39, 1991, pp. 303-303, ISSN  2196-677X (online) / ISSN  0178-2312 (print), doi : 10.1524 / auto.1991.39.112.303 , December 1991.
  • Manfred Thoma, Dietrich Werner: Heinz Töpfer 65 years. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 43, No. 6, 1995, p. 316.
  • Reinhart Lunderstädt : Franz Mesch on his 70th birthday. In: Technical measurement, Munich. Vol. 69, No. 11, 2002, pp. 451-452.
  • M. Buss: Günther Schmidt on his 70th birthday. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 53, 2005, p. 225.
  • Jürgen Beyerer , Georg Bretthauer : Prof. Dr. Franz Mesch: Congratulations on your 85th birthday. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 65, No. 12, 2017, pp. 888–889.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Winfried Oppelt : Small manual of technical control processes. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim 1954, 4th edition Verlag Chemie, Weinheim and Verlag Technik, Berlin 1964, 5th edition 1972, ISBN 3-527-25347-5 .
  2. ^ Franz Mesch: Self-adjusting control systems with special consideration of the measurement time. Dissertation, Technical University of Darmstadt, Faculty of Electrical Engineering (main speaker: Winfried Oppelt ). Darmstadt 1964.
  3. ↑ Werner Kriesel , Hans Rohr, Andreas Koch: History and future of measurement and automation technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, p. 13, ISBN 3-18-150047-X .
  4. ↑ Werner Richter , Heinz Töpfer : Key technology automation: yesterday – today – tomorrow. In: measure, control, regulate, Berlin. Vol. 32, No. 10, 1989, pp. 434-438.
  5. ↑ Aleksej G. Iwachnenko, E. Frommhold-Treu (translator), Franz-Heinrich Lange (editor): Technical cybernetics - introduction to the basics of automatic, adaptive systems. Verlag Technik, Berlin 1964.
  6. ↑ Otto Winkler from Marl was the first chairman of the VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Control (GMR, renamed GMA in 1986) from January 1, 1973 to December 31, 1975. Source: The chairmen of the GMR / GMA. In: Association of German Engineers, VDI / VDE-GMA (Hrsg.): Yearbook 1997 VDI / VDE-Gesellschaft Mess- und Automatisierungstechnik. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1997, p. 452, ISBN 3-18-401611-0 .
  7. ↑ Otto Winkler: Temperature measurement. In: J. Hengstenberg, B. Sturm, O. Winkler (eds.): Measurement and control in chemical technology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin; Heidelberg 1964, 2nd edition, 1621 pages, ISBN 978-3-662-00100-4 .
  8. ^ Paul Profos, Tilo Pfeifer (ed.): Handbook of industrial measurement technology. 6th edition. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich; Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-486-22592-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Mesch, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer, professor of measurement and control technology
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Belgrade , Yugoslavia