Ranga Yogeshwar

Ranga Yogeshwar (2017)

Ranganathan Gregoire Yogeshwar , usually short Ranga Yogeshwar (born May 18, 1959 in Luxembourg ), is a Luxembourgish science journalist , physicist and television presenter .

Publicly he has since the late 1980s, mainly in German-speaking as moderator of different television formats to scientific topics: In addition to individual TV - documentaries and infotainment -Reihen such as quarks and Co and W such as knowledge - often linked to critical analysis and forecasts for sociopolitical Impact on the opportunities and risks of the research discussed .

Life

The son of an Indian engineer and a Luxembourg art historian is a grandson of the Indian librarian and inventor of the Colon classification S. R. Ranganathan (1892–1972). After attending primary school in Bangalore and Luxembourg, he graduated from the Lycée classique de Diekirch and, at the same time, completed music training with a focus on piano at the Conservatory of Luxembourg City. Yogeshwar then studied experimental physics with a focus on "Experimental Elementary Particle Physics and Astrophysics " at RWTH Aachen University with a degree in physics.

From 1983 he began to work for various publishing houses, then in the radio and television sector. During a stay in India in 1985, he led seminars and conferences there, including at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

Yogeshwar is married, has four children and lives with his family in Hennef near Cologne. Yogeshwar is a Luxembourg citizen. His twin brother, Pierre Kalyana Yogeshwar, has a doctorate in physics and he also has a younger sister. He is multilingual and is fluent in Luxembourgish , German , French , English , Tamil , Kannada , Hindi , and Malayalam .

He claims to be an atheist .

Media work

Science editor and television presenter

Ranga Yogeshwar presenting an experiment (2011)

In 1987 Ranga Yogeshwar began working as a science editor under Jean Pütz at Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. With Pütz he moderated numerous programs of the science show until 1990 . The program group Science of the WDR developed the program Quarks and Co. (now renamed Quarks ) for Yogeshwar from the concept of the science show , which he ran from 1993 to 2018. From 1989 to 1999 he co-moderated the show Kopfball . Until 2002 he presented the research and environmental magazine Globus on ARD and from 2006 to the end of 2007 W for knowledge . He also moderates the science live event series of the Deutsches Museum Bonn , which the television station Phoenix broadcasts from time to time. For the children's radio program Lilipuz ( WDR 5 ) he designed the Nutcracker section .

From 1995 to 2001 he was deputy head of the science program group at WDR . In 2001 Yogeshwar followed Alfred Thorwarth as head of the Science Television program group . In March 2005, Thomas Hallet replaced him in this role.

In the 2010s Yogeshwar was one of the most famous science mediators and an important representative of " infotainment ". Yogeshwar, however, expressly distances itself from the term infotainment. With him as the presenter, the WDR made a change in the 1990s from environmentally and socially critical journalism, as represented by Jean Pütz since the 1970s, to scientific entertainment, which is why programs such as the WDR Computer Club , Dschungel and Hobbythek are under its editorial staff were discontinued. The new concept becomes clear, for example, in the ARD series W for knowledge , in which show effects play a major role. In general, Yogeshwar works very ambitiously and uses many technical and human resources. Together with the presenter Frank Elstner , he presented The Great Show of Natural Wonders from 2006 to 2017 . In this program, show elements (in the form of a quiz with prominent candidates) and the communication of scientific content (through Ranga Yogeshwar) were combined. This approach has occasionally been criticized. The science journalist Eckart Roloff sees Yogeshwar alongside Jean Pütz as "magicians of the TV business, as masters of Scientainment who remind of jugglers and have forgotten to speak normally [...] The quota hunt leaves no other choice." In contrast, the FAZ, who died in 2014, said -Editor Frank Schirrmacher in his laudation at the presentation of the Media Prize for Language Culture 2014 to Yogeshwar: “What is clear is what he is receiving the award for today: He is a unique translator of science into language and even more, he has the best virtues of science in imported journalism. Enlightenment, demythesis, incidentally, also in a society that is driven by the hunt for news, patience - an essential factor. Quarks & Co is one of the oldest and most successful science programs on German television, if not the oldest at all, yes, of European television ... "The media critic Hans Hoff wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2010 :" Yogeshwar is above all a serious person with concerns that exceed the quota of a funny show [...] Curiously, Yogeshwar is something of a star in a trade that he himself is extremely skeptical about ... "

At the end of 2007 he handed over the moderation of the show W for Knowledge to Dennis Wilms . Instead, Yogeshwar created a new format with the program “ Wissen vor eight” . In it he tries to explain a topic within 145 seconds. The series will be broadcast on the first at 7:45 p.m. So far (as of September 3, 2010) 412 episodes of these "information snippets" have been played.

Yogeshwar ended his work as an editor at WDR in September 2008 and has been working as a freelance presenter ever since.

Media-effective appearances

Moderation of a knowledge show at the IdeenExpo 2011

In May 2006 Yogeshwar undertook a daring experiment for an episode of the program The Great Show of Natural Wonders : He climbed vertically with the Gekkomat like an insect up the mirror-smooth facade of the Düsseldorf city gate . Such experiments by Yogeshwar are an integral part of the science show as self-experiments. The Gekkomat experiment was later shown in the program W for Knowledge . However, Yogeshwar had to give up on the last few meters due to a computer defect in the climbing device.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant , Yogeshwar, together with employees of the WDR and the Jülich Research Center , visited the Ukraine in March 2006 to explore the exclusion zone and the interior of the sarcophagus (reinforced concrete jacket around the damaged reactor). A special broadcast by Quarks & Co reported on April 11, 2006 about the trip and the background to the accident.

On October 16, 2006 Yogeshwar moderated the ceremony for the 10th anniversary of the Schools on the Net initiative in Bonn. Yogeshwar also moderated the E.ON International Research Award 2008 and the presentation of the German Business Innovation Prize. In addition, Yogeshwar is also committed to communicating natural sciences and technology to the public outside of television. He regularly moderates the big shows of the highlights of physics and the IdeenExpo . His books are bestsellers and have been translated into several languages.

social commitment

Ranga Yogeshwar at the March for Science (2017)

In 1993 Yogeshwar was assaulted in Prague . Since then he has been increasingly committed to initiatives against racism .

Ranga Yogeshwar is co-founder and patron of the Hennef Children's and Youth Foundation and, together with his wife, campaigns for children and young people in his adopted country.

In 2008 and 2009 Yogeshwar took over patronage for actions of the German bone marrow donor database (DKMS) and called for people to be registered with the DKMS. He is one of the first to sign the appeal by international writers against mass surveillance and data exploitation “Defend democracy in the digital age”, as well as the Weimar appeal to save written cultural assets.

In autumn 2013, Yogeshwar was one of the first to sign the appeal against prostitution initiated by Alice Schwarzer in the magazine Emma , which she publishes .

Honors

• Helmut Schmidt Journalist Prize (1998)
• Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism (1998)
• German Prize for Monument Protection from the German National Committee for Monument Protection (1998)
• Prize of the German Influenza Society (1998)
• Journalist Prize of the German Nutrition Society (1996 and 2001)
• Grand Prix of the Ekotop Film Festival (1997 and 1998)
• Prize of the German Dental Association (1999)
• Culture Prize of the Eduard Rhein Foundation (2000)
• Essen University Prize (2000)
• Prix ​​Leonardo Parma (2001, awarded by the Fondazione Medikinale International Parma )
• Name of the asteroid discovered in the Drebach public observatory (20522) Yogeshwar (2001)
• Prix ​​medial (2002, awarded by the television magazine Prisma )
• Oskar von Miller Gold Medal (2002, awarded by the Deutsches Museum in Munich)
• Medal for scientific journalism (2002, awarded by the German Physical Society )
• Special honor from the German Adult Education Association (2003)
• Bornheimer (2004, pedagogical honorary award of the European School Bornheim )
• Prize for science journalism (2006, awarded by the German Society for Psychology )
• Minerva Prize Jülich 2006 for his commitment to culture, science and research
• 2007 innovation award of the network of innovative citizens
• German IQ Prize 2007 from Mensa in Germany
• Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (October 2007)
• Hans Bausch Media Prize (November 2007)
• Honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing. E. h.) From the Department of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Media Technology of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal (June 23, 2009)
• Stein im Brett 2010 from the Professional Association of German Geoscientists
• Science Journalist of the Year 2010 by Medium Magazin
• German Television Award 2011 in the Best Information category as an expert in Fukushima reporting
• Golden Lot 2011, honoring the Association of German Surveying Engineers
• HumanAward 2012 - Award for courageous innovators from education, business and science
• Karl Preusker Medal 2012 - Award for his commitment to libraries and information facilities
• German Ocean Prize from GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel and Deutsche Bank (2013)
• Görlitz Meridian Nature Film Award (2014)
• Media Prize for Language Culture , Television Division, 2014
• Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia 2017
• Media ethics award META of the Stuttgart Media University (2018)
• Officer of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2018)
• Honorary professorship at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (2019)
• Honorary doctorate (Dr. E. h.) From the Faculty of Education at the University of Koblenz-Landau (June 27, 2019)
• Data protection award from the Society for Data Protection and Data Security (GDD) e. V. (2019)

Board of Trustees and Jury Activities

Ranga Yogeshwar at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (2019)

Boards of trustees

• Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
• Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , Heidelberg
• Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Young Press North Rhine-Westphalia (JPNW)
• Science in dialogue
• Phenomenta Lüdenscheid e. V.
• Cologne Science Center (1999-2002)
• Oberhausen gasometer
• Association for the promotion of healthy nutrition and dietetics V.
• Politics-digital
• e-initiative NRW
• Advisory board for the city of Cologne
• Sustainable Development Council
• Start Coding (Association) - Co-Founder and Advisory Board

Jury activities

• Enterpreis - Primary Schools on the Net (Jury Chair) (2000)
• Action program PUSH (1999–2002)
• Future competition Hörzu (2000)
• Journalism Award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (2002)
• Braunschweig Prize
• German Book Prize
• HEUREKA journalist award

TV presentations

• 1990–1999: header , WDR television
• 1993–2018: Quarks , WDR television
• 2000–2002: Globus , Das Erste
• 2006–2017: The great show of natural wonders , Das Erste
• 2006–2007: W for knowledge , the first
• 2008–2012: Knowing Before Eight , The First
• 2010–2011: The great knowledge show with Ranga Yogeshwar, Das Erste
• 2012–2013: Yogeshwar & Schöneberger, Das Erste

Other activities

Yogeshwar has been the testimonial of the company competition Top 100 - The Most Innovative Medium-Sized Companies and publisher of the annual Top 100 book since 2011 .

Publications (excerpt)

Ranga Yogeshwar is (co-) editor and author of publications in the fields of science, information technology and media, such as:

• with Robert Müller: AIDS. What is AIDS? Questions and answers. vgs, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-8025-1245-6 .
• Further questions? Why women have cold feet and other mysteries of everyday life . ISBN 978-3-462-04108-8 .
• I see! Why the apple falls from the tree and other everyday mysteries. With illustrations by the author. 3. Edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-462-04265-8 .
• with Klaus Töpfer : Our future: A conversation about the world after Fukushima. Beck, Munich, 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62922-8 .
• My digital betrayal. A monitoring self-attempt . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 28, 2013.
• Digital education. A dangerous pact . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 17, 2014.
• Next exit future. Stories from a changing world Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-462-05113-1 .

Web links

Commons : Ranga Yogeshwar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ranga Yogeshwar in the catalog of the German National Library
• Videos from and about Ranga Yogeshwar in the AV portal of the Technical Information Library
• Ranga Yogeshwar's website
• ARD crisis moderator Yogeshwar - leisurely, practical, good . In: Spiegel Online .
• Ranga Yogeshwar speaks about educational television, science, killer games, Thomas Gottschalk and much more . In: Fernsehkritik-TV , episode 86, February 6, 2012 (video).

Interviews / debates

• Sven Astheimer: Ranga Yogeshwar: The missionary from the Himalaya . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , 24./25. July 2010, p. C3.
• “A piece of culture is lost in the Amazon world” . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 13, 2011.
• Dietmar Dath: "Expect to be a suspect for life" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 12, 2013.
• Conversation with Ranga Yogeshwar, Weltwach , August 2018
• Phase two. At first, citizens, politics and science were in harmony in the Corona crisis. That is changing rapidly and that is dangerous. A guest post. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 2, 2020. Page 9.
• Jan Feddersen : "Fear has a half-life". In: The daily newspaper (taz) . May 16, 2020 (Interview with Ranga Yogeshwar). 
  • taz Talk # 5 - Our fear always has a half-life on YouTube , May 16, 2020, accessed on May 18, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar - biography on sonymusic.de; accessed on July 1, 2019
2. ^ ^{A b} Ranga Yogeshwar: Next exit future: Stories from a changing world . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2017, pp. 125–127. ISBN 978-3462051131 .
3. ^ Vita of Ranga Yogeshwar. Phoenix, archived from the original on June 28, 2012 ; accessed on November 7, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Vita. In: yogeshwar.de. Retrieved June 25, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar from "Quarks and Co" advocates digital change. In: General-Anzeiger Bonn. March 11, 2018, accessed June 27, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Dissertation: Pierre Kalyāna Yogeshwar: Quantum Hall Effect. Hartree's calculation for the Coulomb interaction. Technical University of Munich, 1988, http://d-nb.info/890971641
7. ↑ Kay Dohnke: We need change, pursue new paths. Schaeffler tomorrow, accessed on June 19, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar in the "Quarks & Co" show "Religion - What we know about faith" from April 22, 2014
9. ↑ Interview with Ranga Yogeshwar "Society is kept stupid" Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from October 29, 2013. Accessed on August 10, 2018.
10. ↑ Andrea Schwyzer: Ranga Yogeshwar speaks about faith. as part of the Faith theme week. NDR, July 12, 2017, archived from the original on July 16, 2017 ; accessed on November 16, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar passes on moderation to Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim and Ralph Caspers. WDR, November 6, 2018, accessed November 16, 2018 . 
12. ^ Uwe Schulz: Conversation on language culture. Say what it's about. WDR, May 31, 2014, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; accessed on November 16, 2018 . 
13. ↑ Rüdiger Heimlich: In the belly of the Trojan horse. ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kölnische Rundschau , April 3, 2003.
14. ↑ Thomas Gehringer: The viewer has become lazy. Jean Pütz about his farewell shows, his quarrel with Ranga Yogeshwar and the lust of old age. In: Westdeutsche Zeitung , March 20, 2004.
15. ↑ Eckart Roloff: Scientainment . Language choice between hermetic and populism. In: Counterwords . Journal for the dispute about knowledge. ed. from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, 7th issue (spring 2001), pp. 53–55.
16. ^ Society for German Language : Media Prize for Language Culture 2014 , laudation Frank Schirrmacher , accessed on September 24, 2014.
17. ^ Hans Hoff : Medial fair booths. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 24, 2010, accessed on September 24, 2014.
18. ↑ www.daserste.de/wissenvoracht ( Memento from March 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 5, 2009)
19. ↑ Birgit Quastenberg: Gekkomat - vertically up the wall ( Memento from October 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) , ARD, press release on the W wie Wissen broadcast of May 7, 2006
20. ↑ Chernobyl and its consequences - the WDR team's trip to Chernobyl 2006. In: Website of the Jülich Research Center (fz-juelich.de). April 11, 2006, archived from the original on June 16, 2011 ; Retrieved February 24, 2013 . 
21. ^ ^{A b} "Children instead of Indians - This is a perfidious provocation" , Berliner Zeitung , March 20, 2000.
22. ^ School without Racism - School with Courage: Godmothers. List of sponsors of the Courage schools and their tasks. Action Courage e. V., accessed on November 6, 2018 .  ; Veronika Kabis: Who discriminates against whom, where, when and how? , taz , May 12, 2003
23. ↑ Role of sponsorships: School without racism - School with courage. Federal Coordination Schools Without Racism - Schools with Courage, archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; accessed on November 6, 2018 . 
24. ^ Children and Youth Foundation Hennef eV: Home. Retrieved October 17, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Article about Ranga Yogeshwar on general-anzeiger-bonn.de; accessed: October 17, 2019
26. ↑ Hauke ​​Friederichs: Help for Helene. In: zeit.de. February 19, 2009, accessed October 30, 2013 . 
27. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : Defending Democracy in the Digital Age (accessed on September 24, 2014)
28. ↑ Preserve written cultural assets! A Weimar appeal. Klassik Stiftung Weimar, August 30, 2014, archived from the original on September 10, 2014 ; accessed on November 27, 2018 . 
29. ↑ To the Federal Chancellor and the Bundestag | EMMA. Retrieved October 16, 2018 . 
30. ↑ Asteroid (20522) Yogeshwar. Retrieved May 7, 2020 . 
31. ^ Deutsches Museum: Annual Report 2002 (PDF file; 2.1 MB), p. 23
32. ^ German Physical Society: Award for Ranga Yogeshwar , press release, No. 22/2002, November 6, 2002
33. ↑ Margret Klose: The Laughter of Knowledge. Quoted by the European School Bornheim. Bonner Rundschau, May 7, 2004, archived from the original on June 4, 2004 ; accessed on January 22, 2019 . 
34. ^ Laudation Ranga Yogeshwar. Prize for science journalism 2006. German Society for Psychology, accessed on January 29, 2019 . 
35. ↑ NiBB Innovation Prize 2007 to Ranga Yogeshwar: Press information at OpenPR
36. ↑ Science topics on TV: Ranga Yogeshwar receives IQ Prize 2007 , rp-online, April 15, 2007 (afp)
37. ^ Society IQ Prize for moderator Ranga Yogeshwar , Hamburger Morgenpost , April 14, 2007
38. ↑ Hans Bausch Media Prize of the SWR goes to journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. State portal Baden-Württemberg, November 16, 2007, archived from the original on July 18, 2012 ; accessed on February 13, 2019 . 
39. ↑ www.presse.uni-wuppertal.de (archive) - Honorary doctorate for Ranga Yogeshwar
40. ↑ www.geoberuf.de Homepage of the professional association of German geoscientists
41. ^ Annette Milz : Die Journalisten des Jahres 2010. December 21, 2010, accessed on December 22, 2010 . 
42. ↑ Golden Lot 2011 for Dr.-Ing. Eh Ranga Yogeshwar. Association of German Surveying Engineers V., accessed on May 9, 2019 . 
43. ↑ Library & Information Germany (BID): Ranga Yogeshwar receives the Karl Preusker Medal 2012. (PDF; 198 kB) June 20, 2012, accessed on June 21, 2012 . 
44. ↑ GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel from May 21, 2013: Ranga Yogeshwar receives 2013 Ocean Prize. Well-known science journalist will be honored at GEOMAR in Kiel , accessed on May 23, 2013
45. ↑ goerlitzer-meridian.de: Award ceremony 2014 . Retrieved March 15, 2019 . 
46. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar receives media prize for language culture. Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Press Office, June 1, 2014, accessed June 1, 2014 . 
47. ↑ Ministerialblatt (MBl. NRW.) . Edition 2017 No. 4 from February 3, 2017, pages 59 to 70. Accessed February 5, 2017.
48. ^ State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: Awarded the State Order of Merit on January 18, 2017. Accessed on February 5, 2017.
49. ↑ Study. Knowledge. Do. - University of the Media (HdM). Retrieved May 8, 2020 . 
50. ↑ Xavier Bettel honors Jean Pütz, Ranga Yogeshwar and Tom Hillenbrand. Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, February 20, 2018, accessed May 9, 2019 . 
51. ↑ https://www.h-brs.de/de/pressemitteilung/ranga-yogeshwar-zum-honorarprofessor-ernannt
52. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Ranga Yogeshwar. University of Koblenz-Landau, June 12, 2019, accessed on June 28, 2019 . 
53. ↑ Ranga Yogeshwar receives GDD data protection award 2019. In: gdd.de. November 22, 2019, accessed November 22, 2019 . 
54. ^ Young press NRW: The youth press board of trustees
55. ↑ Knowledge before eight - background. The first, accessed November 6, 2018 . 
56. ↑ Yogeshwar, Ranga (ed.): TOP 100 2015. Vordenker. Redline, Munich 2015. ISBN 3-86881-592-9