Heinz Oberhummer

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Heinz Oberhummer (2011)

Heinz Oberhummer (born May 19, 1941 in Bischofshofen , Salzburg ; † November 24, 2015 in Vienna ) was an Austrian physicist and associate professor.

Life

Heinz Oberhummer grew up in the state of Salzburg as the son of the "senior teacher Oberhummer in Obertauern ". He taught his brother and him in a one-class elementary school with a total of only eight children. He later studied physics at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz and at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . Oberhummer died in November 2015 at the age of 74 in a Viennese hospital of complications from pneumonia. According to his wish, his body was made available to science .

Act

Oberhummer was a professor of theoretical physics at the Atomic Institute of the Technical University of Vienna . His main research area was the processes of nucleosynthesis . He also dealt with questions about the fine-tuning of the natural constants . Together with Attila Csótó and Helmut Schlattl, he succeeded in deriving quantifiable statements by examining the cosmological fine-tuning of the fundamental forces in the universe during the formation of carbon and oxygen in the three-alpha process in red giants .

He was the initiator of Nuclei in the Cosmos , a series of conferences in the field of nuclear astrophysics that has been held in a different country every two years since 1990.

A particular concern for him was the popularization of scientific content, especially with the help of the new media . He developed web-based learning and information systems and coordinated educational projects funded by the European Commission , such as Cinema and Science .

Since 2007, Oberhummer has been the designer and presenter of the science cabaret Science Busters together with the physicist Werner Gruber and the cabaret artist Martin Puntigam . With the Science Busters he tried to present science in an understandable, entertaining and exciting way. Oberhummer was also heard as "Science Buster" in a weekly radio column including a podcast on the youth radio station FM4 of the ORF . Since 2011, her shows have been broadcast on TV on Thursday night and DIE.NACHT on ORF eins . Since Oberhummer's death, Martin Puntigam has continued the "Science Busters" with a new line-up. Together with Werner Gruber, Oberhummer portrayed a Klingon in two promotional videos from the Vienna Adult Education Center in order to illustrate the diversity of the language offered by the VHS.

Heinz Oberhummer was on the scientific advisory board of the Giordano Bruno Foundation and on the Science Council of the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences and the Freethinkers Association of Austria . Until May 2011 he was chairman of the Central Council of Non-denominationalists and until May 2010 chairman of the Society for Critical Thinking , the Austrian regional group of the Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences . He was one of the initiators of the initiative against church privileges and has been chairman of the initiative Religion is a Private Matter since June 21, 2011 .

In January 2014, the establishment of the association “Last Help - Association for Self-Determined Dying” was reported to the Vienna State Police Directorate. The authority did not allow the establishment. Oberhummer and Eytan Reif filed a complaint against the prohibition with the Regional Administrative Court of Vienna, ultimately with the aim of changing the legal situation in the direction of pro suicide assistance .

In 2016 the "Heinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication" was launched. The prize is awarded annually by the Science Busters together with the University of Graz, the Technical University of Vienna, ORF television, Radio FM4 and the City of Vienna to national and international science communicators. The first winner was James Randi . The 2017 award winner was Giulia Enders , 2018 award winner was Adam Savage . In 2019 the award will go to “No Such Thing As A Fish”, a scientific podcast . The award celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2020 and the winner is chemist and science journalist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim .

Awards

Books, paperbacks, audio books

  • Heinz Oberhummer, Martin Puntigam , Werner Gruber : The universe is a shitty area , Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2015, ISBN 978-3-446-44477-5
  • Martin Puntigam, Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer: Mind reading by caressing snails - What we can learn about physics from animals , Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-43215-4
    • As an audio book: Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer and Martin Puntigam, Harry Rowohlt: Der Hörverlag, 2012. ISBN 3-86717-921-2
    • As paperback: Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer and Martin Puntigam, Goldmann-Verlag, 2014. ISBN 3-8445-1214-4
  • Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer and Martin Puntigam: If you don't know anything, you have to believe everything . Carl Hanser Verlag, 2012. ISBN 978-3-446-43215-4
    • As an audio book: Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer and Martin Puntigam, Harry Rowohlt: Der Hörverlag, Der Hörverlag, 2014 ISBN 3-423-34825-9 .
    • As paperback: Werner Gruber, Heinz Oberhummer and Martin Puntigam, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2014. ISBN 3-8445-1214-4
  • Can it all be a coincidence? - Mysterious Universe , Ecowin Verlag , Salzburg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-902404-54-1
  • Cores and Stars: Introduction to Nuclear Astrophysics . Barth, Leipzig, Berlin, Heidelberg 1993, ISBN 3-335-00319-5

TV, radio, DVDs

Heinz Oberhummer in Science Busters with personal protective equipment

Web links

Commons : Heinz Oberhummer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Salzburg science buster Heinz Oberhummer dies
  2. ↑ orf.at: His father had the imposing title "Head Teacher Oberhummer from Obertauern". He taught him and his brother in a one-class elementary school with a total of only eight children.
  3. ^ H., Oberhummer, A. Csótó, H. Schlattl: Stellar production rates of carbon and its abundance in the Universe, Science 289, 2000, 88
  4. ↑ YouTube: Language courses at the VHS Vienna - Spot , January 14, 2015
  5. ↑ Klingon Wiki: VHS Vienna , January 20, 2015
  6. ^ Website of the Freidenkerbund Austria , accessed on November 13, 2011
  7. ^ Initiative against church privileges: personal committee
  8. ↑ Euthanasia Association fights for legalization on ORF.at, October 8, 2014
  9. ↑ TU Vienna: Heinz Oberhummer Award ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tuwien.ac.at
  10. ^ Technical University of Vienna: Heinz Oberhummer Award for Giulia Enders . Article dated November 21, 2017, accessed November 21, 2017.
  11. ↑ derStandard.at: Oberhummer Award goes to "MythBuster" Adam Savage . Article dated April 17, 2018, accessed April 23, 2018.
  12. ↑ Heinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication 2019 goes to "No Such Thing As A Fish" at the University of Graz, April 7, 2019
  13. ↑ Heinz Oberhummer Award 2020 - Science Busters. Accessed April 30, 2020 (German).
  14. ↑ Oberhummer Award to science journalist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim. Accessed April 30, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Science books of the year 2009, online at woche-des-wissens.at: The moving history of Austria
  16. ↑ APA press release Excellent PR , November 25, 2010
  17. ↑ Favorite books 2011 ( Memento from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ^ Die Presse: Radio Prize for Adult Education to "Science Busters" , November 20, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Head lobster, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian physicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Bischofshofen
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 2015
Place of death Vienna