Walter Hehl

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Walter Hehl (2016)

Walter Hehl (born April 10, 1944 in Zábřeh , Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ) is a German-Swiss physicist , computer scientist and philosopher and author of several books.

biography

Hehl spent his childhood in Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia and his youth in Stuttgart . After studying mathematics and physics at the University of Stuttgart , he obtained a diploma in physics. In 1972 he received his doctorate as Dr. rer. nat. with a thesis in solid state physics. Since completing his intermediate diploma, he has received a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation . He began his professional career as a physicist and development engineer in the IBM development laboratory in Böblingen (Germany). For many years he was head of pre-development in the Böblingen laboratory with projects in the system and software area. After a sabbatical year as a lecturer for software technology at the TU Dresden , he became scientific director of the IBM Industry Labs Europe, first in Stuttgart, then directly in the IBM research laboratory in Rüschlikon near Zurich. In this role he conducted around 600 innovation workshops with executives from business and politics from all over the world. Since retiring in 2009, he has been writing books on his fields of interest physics, innovation, computer science (software technology) and philosophy. He has two sons and lives with his wife in Thalwil near Zurich .

plant

His work as a physicist and manager in development and research at IBM resulted in several books on the driving forces of information technology and the development of innovations in industry. The connection between physics and software development led to books on pragmatic epistemology, the transfer of software concepts into philosophy and the development of a modernized form of Popper's three-world theory . The basic idea is a world model with physics for the inanimate world, with generalized software for the animate and the digital world and possibly with spirit in the form of art, for example.

The discrepancy between the glorious public image of Galileo Galilei and the “real” Galilei is presented in the book “Galileo Galilei controversial”. It also shows unknown facets of Galileo and many errors about and of Galileo in the spirit of his time.

A conclusion from the knowledge in physics, computer science, psychology and one's own life experience is the book "God controversial - what is still dignified to believe". It tries to redraw the boundary between knowledge and belief according to the sciences of the 21st century in the areas mentioned. Conciliatory thoughts include the meaning of chance, the oceanic feeling of Romain Rolland and Einstein's cosmic religion . A limited crossing of the border in " borderline situations " is allowed as human.

Award

The book "Galileo Galilei controvers" was awarded the research prize for 2018/2019 by the Ellen and Max Woitschach Foundation for non-ideological science in May 2019 . The prize was awarded for the “unprejudiced view of the person Galileo Galilei, his achievements and his errors from today's perspective”.

Publications

  • Trends in information technology. From nanotechnology to virtual worlds . Vdf Hochschulverlag at the ETH Zurich, Zurich 2008.
  • with Rainer Willmanns: Paradoxes and Practice in Innovation Management . Hanser reference book, Munich 2009.
  • The uncanny acceleration of knowledge. Why we don't understand anything and still achieve great things . Vdf Hochschulverlag at ETH Zurich, Zurich 2012.
  • Interaction. How principles of software change philosophy . Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg 2016.
  • A General World Model with Poiesis: Poppers Three Worlds updated with Software . researchgate.net researchgate.net/publication/301879586, 2016.
  • Popper's Three Worlds, Computers and Religion . academia.edu academia.edu/32312332, 2017.
  • Galileo Galilei controversial. A scientist between the universal genius and the despot . Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg 2017.
  • God controversial. What can still be believed in dignity . Vdf Hochschulverlag at ETH Zurich, Zurich 2019.
  • Popper's Three Worlds, Computers and Religion. In: Pandeism. An Anthology of the Creative Mind, p. 16 - 58 . Iff books, Winchester UK and Washington USA 2019.
  • My five wives . Self-published and epubli, Berlin 2020.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hehl, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Swiss physicist, computer scientist, philosopher and author
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Zábřeh , Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia