GMD Research Center for Information Technology

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GMD - Information Technology Research Center
GMD - Information Technology Research Center
Birlinghoven Castle - GMD headquarters in Sankt Augustin near Bonn
Category: research Institute
Consist: 1968-2001
Absorbed in: Fraunhofer Society

The GMD - Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik GmbH was a major German research institution for applied mathematics and computer science that existed between 1968 and 2001 .

history

It was founded on April 23, 1968 in Bonn under the name Society for Mathematics and Data Processing (GMD). This was intended to transfer the concept of large-scale research , which had proven itself in the field of nuclear energy, to computer science , which was then still known as data processing . For this purpose, the Institute for Instrumental Mathematics (IIM) at the mathematics faculty of the University of Bonn was expanded as a major federal research facility with a minority participation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Under the first managing directors Ernst Peschl and Heinz Unger , the emphasis was placed on mathematics. In 1970 the GMD consisted of an institute for applied mathematics , an institute for numerical data processing , an institute for the theory of automata and switching networks and an institute for information systems research , all of which were oriented towards basic research. There was also a department for data processing and a department for official data processing systems as a service provider and the Institute for Computer Science College .

In the course of the discussion about the software crisis that started parallel to the founding of the GMD and the subsequent establishment of courses in computer science at many German universities, the structure and orientation of the GMD also came under fire. As early as 1969 there was discussion about a reorientation towards engineering and software technology goals, in 1970 the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology prevailed with this opinion and relieved Heinz Unger of his office.

Since 1973, the German Computer Center in Darmstadt , the computer architecture group of the TU Berlin , the working group for distributed systems of the Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin GmbH, the Society for Information and Documentation (GID) from Frankfurt am Main have been affiliated to the GMD . After reunification, parts of the institutes for computer science and computer technology as well as the central institutes for cybernetics and information processes of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR followed .

In March 1995 the name was changed. At the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research , the GMD was merged with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft between 2000 and 2001 against the resistance of the employees, who received broad support from regional politics . The last CEO of GMD was the Greek computer scientist Dionysios (Dennis) Tsichritzis. The facility has grown in the Fraunhofer Institute Center Schloss Birlinghoven .

Institutes

The GMD last consisted of eight institutes:

There was also the independent group BioMIP and a branch in Tokyo, Japan.

See also

literature

  • Josef Wiegand: The founding of the GMD - mathematics or data processing? In: Margit Szöllösi-Janze , Helmuth Trischler (Hrsg.): Großforschung in Deutschland . Frankfurt am Main / New York 1990, ISBN 3-593-34408-4 , pp. 78–96 (Studies on the History of Large German Research Institutions , Volume 1).
  • Josef Wiegand: Computer science and large-scale research. History of the Society for Mathematics and Data Processing . Frankfurt am Main / New York 1994, ISBN 3-593-35121-8 (Studies on the History of Large German Research Institutions, Volume 6).
  • Hans-Willy Hohn : Cognitive structures and control problems in research. Nuclear physics and computer science in comparison . Frankfurt am Main / New York 1998, ISBN 3-593-36102-7 ( Online [PDF; 1,3 MB ] Writings of the Max Planck Institute for Social Research Cologne, Volume 36).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Introduction to IT organization. In: Publication Database of the Fraunhofer Society. Fraunhofer-Publica, accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  2. ^ Christiane Schulzki-Haddouti: GMD-Fraunhofer: Faule Fusion . In: Spiegel Online . October 12, 2000 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 13, 2018]).