Jürgen Schmid (engineer)

Jürgen Schmid (born June 23, 1944 in Isingen ; † May 6, 2013 ) was a German engineer and pioneer in the field of renewable energies .

Life and career

Schmid was born in the Württemberg village of Isingen, which is now part of Rosenfeld , and grew up there. From 1966 to 1972 he studied aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart . Then he went to the nuclear research center in Karlsruhe . He later became an employee of the EU Commission and worked in the field of controlled nuclear fusion . In 1981 Schmid moved to the newly founded Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg im Breisgau . There he developed the world's first fully electronic inverter in 1982 . In 1993 Schmid was offered a position at the University of Karlsruhe . In 1995 he went to Kassel, where he became head of the Institute for Solar Energy Supply Technology (ISET) and accepted a professorship for rational energy conversion at what was then Kassel University . On January 1, 2009, ISET became the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), headed by Schmid.

Schmid was a member of the German government's Advisory Council on Global Change from 2004 until his death .

In 2012 Schmid received the Fraunhofer Medal , a prestigious award from the Fraunhofer Society . In the same year he was awarded the Goethe plaque from the State of Hesse .

Schmid left behind his wife and a son.

Web links

• Stefan Rahmstorf: Farewell to Jürgen Schmid. At: scilogs.de on May 9, 2013
• Claus Peter Müller: Head of the Fraunhofer Institute: “Overall plan necessary for the energy transition” In: Frankfurter Allgemeine from July 27, 2012
• Jutta Witte: The energy transition in Germany: "We need a single control center". At: ingenieur.de on September 28, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kassel as a science location for energy system technology first choice! . At: Fraunhofer IWES on September 26, 2012
2. ↑ The Critical Observer. (PDF; 583 kB) In: neue energie Volume 11, 2012, pp. 84–89.
3. ↑ Obituary. ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) At: wbgu.de May 2013 (Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Government on Global Change)
4. ↑ Commemoration for the farewell of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmid . At: Fraunhofer IWES on May 8, 2013
5. ↑ Uwe Krengel: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmid died suddenly and unexpectedly. At: Informationsdienst Wissenschaft of May 8, 2013
6. ↑ tos: Ex-Fraunhofer boss Schmid dies - pioneer in the field of renewable energies. In: Hessische / Niedersächsische Allgemeine from May 8, 2013