Heinz Zwanziger

Heinz Zwanziger (2012)

Heinz W. Zwanziger (born August 8, 1947 in Taucha ) is a German chemist and professor of analytical chemistry . He dedicated himself in particular to research and the training of engineers in the field of applied chemistry . From 2000 to 2012 he was rector of the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences in Saxony-Anhalt .

Life

Heinz Zwanziger was born in Taucha near Leipzig . Here he attended an 8-class elementary school and then an extended high school (EOS), where he passed his Abitur in 1966.

His subsequent studies in chemistry took him to the Karl Marx University in Leipzig from 1966 . He graduated here as a qualified chemist , after which he went on to study research, which he successfully completed in 1973 with his dissertation on the subject of "For the quantum chemical treatment of metal complexes, in particular of halide [complex] and pseudohalide complexes of gold". rer. nat. finished.

He gained his first professional experience as a chemist while working as a scientific assistant and then as a specialist chemist at the University of Leipzig.

In 1984 he switched to the Analytical Center and Central Laboratory for Coal Analysis in Leipzig as a research assistant for 5 years. During this time he wrote his habilitation thesis on the subject of "Pattern Recognition and Multi-Component Analysis with Multivariate Chemometric Methods", which he defended in 1988 at the University of Leipzig and thus obtained the highest academic degree, which later became Dr. rer. nat. habil. was converted.

As a university lecturer in the redesign and new beginning in Merseburg

In 1989 he got an appointment as a university lecturer for analytical chemistry at the Technical University "Carl Schorlemmer" Leuna-Merseburg (THL-M).

With German reunification on October 3, 1990, the universities and colleges fell from the responsibility of the Ministry for Higher and Technical Education in the GDR to the decentralized responsibility and funding of the five new federal states . They were therefore forced to create their own university structure in their federal state, so that Zwanziger went through a fundamental restructuring process here.

The state government of Saxony-Anhalt had already decided at the beginning of December 1990 to liquidate the University of Agriculture in Bernburg, the TH Köthen and the TH Leuna-Merseburg, where Zwanziger had started as a university lecturer just over a year ago. The first Higher Education Structure Act (HSG) of the State of Saxony-Anhalt of February 28, 1992 set the abolition of these universities and new technical colleges were to be created in their place.

In Zwanziger's work environment, an evaluation of the TH Leuna-Merseburg was carried out by the Science Council , as a result of which the three powerful and competitive departments of chemistry, process engineering and materials and processing technology were combined with the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). A special integration commission was active for this unification process (representative of the THL-M: Wolfgang Fratzscher ). However, this association did not remain stable and effective, so that the technical and scientific structures at the MLU later disbanded and partially shifted to the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg .

Zwanziger then experienced how the new Merseburg University of Applied Sciences was founded parallel to April 1, 1992 , to cover the southern region of Saxony-Anhalt. The mathematician Lothar Teschke was appointed professor here by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and at the same time entrusted with the duties of a founding rector . In Merseburg there was a university campus that had grown since 1954 and that made it possible to accommodate the new technical college. For February 1, 1993 Teschke took over his newly founded University of Applied Sciences and the host function across the entire campus.

Zwanziger was also able to observe how Teschke began to professionally profile the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences and to build up a new faculty for this purpose. He formed departments with which important subjects such as chemistry and chemical technologies, mechanical and thermal engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, automation technology, communications engineering, economics and social affairs were covered. When recruiting his professorships, Teschke relied on technically excellent and partially habilitated as well as politically unencumbered young scientists from the THL-M and the region, whom he systematically supplemented by appointing experts from the old federal states. Zwanziger therefore applied for a corresponding advertisement, and in 1993 he was appointed professor for chemistry / analytics at this newly founded university of applied sciences. On March 31, 1993, the legal repeal of the THL-M had taken place.

Zwanziger built his field of expertise fundamentally in terms of teaching and related research. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to the profile of this new university of applied sciences in the first generation of professors.

Rector in Merseburg

In 1994 the founding rector Teschke returned to his university in Hamburg. Johanna Wanka was elected as his successor in the rector's office in the spring of 1994. She was also a mathematician, and she continued to expand the Merseburg University of Applied Sciences in the spirit of Teschke, further expanding the number of departments to six.

In October 2000, Wanka was appointed minister of education and universities to Potsdam . Zwanziger was elected as her successor in the rector's office of the FH Merseburg, who carried out this task for three electoral terms up to April 2012.

Zwanziger also visibly continued the professional profile of the university. In doing so, he was able to rely on the fully qualified lawyer Bernd Janson , who has led the university administration as Chancellor for more than 20 years from the start . Zwanziger took over the structure with six departments from his predecessor Wanka, which also existed until the academic year 2004/2005:

• Computer science and applied natural sciences
• Chemical and environmental engineering
• mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering, information technology and media
• Social work, media, culture.
• Economics.

With the academic year 2005/2006, the structure was concentrated on four departments under the Rectorate von Zwanziger, based on an adjustment to existing demographic developments as well as financial constraints and the resulting specializations at the individual universities of applied sciences in Saxony-Anhalt:

• Computer science and communication systems
• Engineering and natural sciences
• Social work . Media . Culture
• Economics .

Zwanziger activated the application-oriented research work - especially with the large chemical industry in the region such as The Dow Chemical Company as the world's second largest chemical company (headquartered in the USA) - during his rectorate period and also adapted it to the new structure of the departments. In particular, on the basis of this new structure, he has also developed interdisciplinary research more intensively and particularly promoted the transfer of research achievements. Zwanziger regarded the work in the affiliated institutes as an important pillar of research activities:

• Fluid and pump technology (Head: Dominik Surek )
• Multimedia information processing, communication technology and development trends
• Research and consulting center for machine and energy systems.

Zwanziger also supported the expansion of the collection of objects from the chemical industry, which began in the early 1990s and which is strongly represented here in the region (successor to Leuna , Buna ). He relied on the library director, interested in technology history, Klaus Krug as the leading head, so that a German Chemistry Museum Merseburg with European status has gradually developed on the Merseburg campus .

Main building on the Merseburg campus after the renovation

During his tenure as rector, Zwanziger also carried out a thorough renovation of the university campus and tailored it to the reduced space requirements of the technical college with four departments. In particular, the most important facilities were concentrated in the main building , including the rectorate, the chancellor's area, vice-rectorate, dean's offices, university library and cafeteria.

As a result of the positive development of his university, Zwanziger ensured that since the academic year 2004/2005 the name “Fachhochschule Merseburg” has been transferred to the new name “Hochschule Merseburg” (Ho Me) - University of Applied Sciences.

The immediately neighboring state of Saxony also followed the recommendations of the Science Council and closed five technical universities. In their place, the less cost-intensive technical colleges were newly founded, immediately adjacent to the University of Technology, Business and Culture (HTWK) instead of the TH Leipzig . Zwanziger has always maintained close contacts with the HTWK Leipzig, not least with his professor colleague Ziegler , who also worked there as Chancellor for more than 20 years and with whom he had already studied together.

Heinz Zwanziger hands over the chain of office to Rector Jörg Kirbs (2012)

Zwanziger cultivated his relationship with the HTWK in the awareness that both neighboring universities are of great importance because they not only have to secure the next generation for the Central German area with its large industrial share, but also have to take on a variety of tasks from the two dissolved technical universities, especially in technology transfer as well as in industry-related research and further education.

The professor for technical mechanics Jörg Kirbs was elected as the successor to the rector's office , whose investiture took place on April 12, 2012. Zwanziger retired at the end of the 2011/2012 academic year.

Fonts (selection)

• For the quantum chemical treatment of metal complexes, especially of halide [complexes] and pseudohalide complexes of gold. Dissertation. University of Leipzig, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 1973.
• Pattern recognition and multi-component analysis with multivariate chemometric methods. Habilitation (dissertation B). University of Leipzig 1988.
• Chemometrics in environmental analysis. VCH Verlag, Weinheim 1997, ISBN 3-527-28772-8 (with Jürgen W. Einax and Sabine Geiss).
• As publisher: 2nd conference of young scientists at the University of Applied Sciences Merseburg. Shaker Verlag, Aachen 2001, ISBN 3-8265-9451-7 .

Web links

• Website of the University of Merseburg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans-Joachim Bittrich , Ch. Duschk, G. Fuchs: Carl Schorlemmer. German publishing house for basic industry, Leipzig 1984.
2. ^ Wilhelm Pritzkow: Technical chemistry. In: Klaus Krug , Hans-Joachim Hörig, Dieter Schnurpfeil (editor): 50 years of the university in Merseburg. Merseburg contributions to the history of the chemical industry in Central Germany, publisher: Förderverein Sachzeugen der chemical Industrie e. V., Merseburg, Vol. 9 (2004) No. 1, pp. 41-46.
3. ^ Klaus Hartmann: System process engineering. In: Klaus Krug , Hans-Joachim Hörig, Dieter Schnurpfeil (editor): 50 years of the university in Merseburg. Merseburg contributions to the history of the chemical industry in Central Germany, publisher: Förderverein Sachzeugen der chemical Industrie e. V., Merseburg, Vol. 9 (2004) No. 1, pp. 93-98.
4. ^ Hans-Joachim Radusch: Material Science. In: Klaus Krug , Hans-Joachim Hörig, Dieter Schnurpfeil (editor): 50 years of the university in Merseburg. Merseburg contributions to the history of the chemical industry in Central Germany, publisher: Förderverein Sachzeugen der chemical Industrie e. V., Merseburg, Vol. 9 (2004) No. 1, pp. 115-124.
5. ↑ Wissenschaftsrat : Recommendations on the future structure of the university landscape in the new federal states and in the eastern part of Berlin. Part I to IV. Cologne 1992.
6. ↑ René Angelstein: University Chancellor out of Passion - Festschrift for Dr. Bernd Janson. Contributors: J. Kirbs , Ch. Siegel, J. Bischoff. Hochschulverlag, Merseburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-942703-33-8 .
7. ^ Hans-Georg Sehrt: The SCI, the "German Chemistry Museum Merseburg" and the time. Comments on a start-up and its legitimation. In: Jürgen Heeg and Jens Lazarus: "Chemistry brings bread, prosperity, beauty" - Festschrift for Klaus Krug on his retirement on March 31, 2005. Hochschule Merseburg, Bibliothek, Merseburg 2005, pp. 105–116.
8. ↑ Werner Kriesel ; Hans Rohr; Andreas Koch: History and future of measurement and automation technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, pp. 51–114 and 217–222, ISBN 3-18-150047-X .
9. ↑ Wissenschaftsrat: Recommendations on the engineering sciences at the universities and technical colleges of the new federal states, 1991, p. 96 ff., 1991.