Hall of Fame Alumni
A Lifelong Successful and Closely Associated with the TU-Darmstadt
It is really interesting to see which great personalities the TU Darmstadt did and still does yield. Actually many of our former students can look back on impressive careers: They payed great dues to science and research, assumed important political administrative bodies, made great academic careers in economy or achieved fame in a different kind of way.
Here you can find a collection of our alumni and what they achieved:
| Frank Rainer Asbeck | director of the European Union’s satellite centre until 2009 (mathematics and physics) |
| Olaf Bartsch | Member of the executive board, Miele & Cie. KG (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. h.c. Max Bächer | Honorary member of the Federation of German Architecs in Hessen, until 1994 professor of creation and interior decoration at the TH Darmstadt |
| Wolfgang Bauer | Chairman of the management board, Dyckerhoff AG (industrial engineering) |
| Rainer Baule | Executive board member of the Fresenius AG and since 2001 chairman of the Fresenius Kabi AG (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Kai Beckmann | Member of the executive board, Merck KGaA (computer science) |
| Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard | Member of the management board, Daimler AG; responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Production and Procurement and for the Mercedes-Benz Vans division (industrial engineering) |
| Ralph Boehlke | Managing Director for Germany and Swiss at Johnson Controls (industrial engineering) |
| Dagmar Bollin-Flade | Managing shareholder of Christian Bollin Armaturenfabrik GmbH (mechanical engineering) |
| Dr. Werner Brandt | CFO, SAP AG (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart | Together with William McDonough, he developed the “cradle-to-cradle” concept of ecological efficiency. He also teaches at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and is managing director of Epea Internationale Umweltforschung and scientific director of the Hamburg Umweltinstitut (process engineering) |
| Dr. Michael Buscher | CEO, OC Oerlikon Corporation AG (electrical engineering) |
| Reinhold Claas | Shareholder, Claas KGaA mbH (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Metin Colpan | Cofounder and former chairman of the management board of Qiagen (chemistry) |
| Prof. Dr. Ernst-Otto Czempiel | Cofounder and former member of the board of governors of Hessische Stiftung für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (HSFK). |
| Dr. Kurt H. Debus | Former director of the Kennedy Space Center (electrical engineering) |
| Christoph Debus | Executive director, Air Berlin (economics) |
| Christopher Dell | One of Europe’s most renowned vibraphonists (philosophy) |
| Hans Demant | Former chairman of the management board, Adam Opel GmbH, and vice-president for development, General Motors Europe (mechanical engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Cornelia Denz | Professor of physics at University of Münster (physics) |
| Dr. Edgar Dietrich | Owner of the Q-DAS GmbH & Co. KG (electrical engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer | Deputy director and chief economist of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, co-chair of working group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, professor for “economics of climate change” at the Technical University Berlin (economics) |
| Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn | Manager of technic and environment at the Association of the Automotive Industry – VDA (engineering) |
| Dr. Christoph Franz | CEO, German Lufthansa AG (industrial engineering) |
| Dieter Gass | Chief of racing participation at Audi Sport, former chief engineer for test- and racing participations at Toyota within the Formula 1 (Electronmechanical constructions) |
| Prof. Dr. Ines Geipel | Author and professor of German verse at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch,” Berlin, and cofounder of the “Archiv unterdrückte Literatur in der DDR” (philosophy and sociology) |
| Dr. Andreas Georgi | Former member of the management board, Dresdner Bank AG (industrial engineering) |
| Frank Gerstenschläger | Member of the executive board, Deutsche Börse AG, and chairman of the management board, Frankfurt Stock Exhange (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. mult. Ernst Dieter Gilles | Founding director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik komplexer technischer Systeme (electrical engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Lothar Göttsching | Former professor of paper manufacturing with more than 40 years of teaching and research work at the TH Darmstadt (paper engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Moniko Greif | Associate dean of the faculty Engineering at the university RheinMain. The faculty developed in 2006 by a fusion of five faculties , which Monika Greif as the associate dean athoritatively shaped. (engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Peter Gruss | Since 2002 president of the Max-Planck-Society and in 2009 he received The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Biology) |
| Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Grünberg | Recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics. He began his professional career with an undergraduate degree and doctorate in physics from the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, and has been working at the Forschungszentrum Jülich since 1972. |
| Carsten Haferkamp | Commercial manager and labour director of Areva NP GmbH (industrial engineering and engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Theo Härder | Professor of computer science at University of Kaiserslautern (electrical engineering) |
| Wolfgang Hechler | Head of Asset Management and service of the Swissgrid AG (electrical engineering) |
| Friedrich Hujer | Working for the Agfa-Gevaert-Group since 1968, from 1999 till 2001 chairman of the photoindustry-association (electrical engineering) |
| Purna Kanungo | Chairman of the non-profit association “Freunde für Frieden”, a longtime peace activist (electrical engineering) |
| Dr. rer. pol. Hans-Joachim Klein | As a professional swimmer he won three silver and one bronze medal at the Olympic Games 1964 in Tokio, from 2001 until 2007 president of the German Olympic Association. From 1985 to 1997 district administrator of Darmstadt-Dieburg (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla | Scientific manageress of the Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy GmbH. In addition to that she teaches Materials testing at the institute of materials at the Ruhr-university Bochum and fills some key positions at the German Research Foundation (mechanics) |
| Dr.-Ing. Katharina Klemt-Albert | Manageress of the DB International GmbH (constructional engineering) |
| Prof. Salomon Korn | Vice-president of the Zentralrat der Juden since 2003 (architecture and sociology) |
| Kaspar Kraemer | President of the Bund Deutscher Architekten for many years (architecture) |
| Oliver Kraft | CEO, DB Netz AG (information systems) |
| Prof. Hans-Jürgen Krupp | President of the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt for four years, president of the Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung for nine years, member of the Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung (the “Five Economic Wisemen”) for three years, as well as senator and deputy mayor of Hamburg and president of the State Central Bank, Hamburg (industrial engineering and economics) |
| Dr. Rolf Kunisch | Member of the board of directors, Beiersdorf AG, and chairman of its management board until 2005 (industrial engineering and economics) |
| Dr. Ralf Kunkel | Head of department of acoustics, Audi AG (mechanical engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Katharina Landfester | Director of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz (chemistry). |
| Prof. Dr. Ulrich Lehner | Chairman of the board of directors, Deutsche Telekom, and stockholder and chairman of the management board, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA until 2008 (industrial engineering and mechanical engineering) |
| Dr.-Ing. Hans-Hartwig Loewenstein | President of the Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes (civil engineering) |
| Dr. Kai Luppa | Since february, 1st 2012 sales manager of the IDS GmbH, former manager of the utilicount GmbH & Co. KG (electrical engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Hubert Markl | President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and vice-president of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung from 1986-1991, former president of the Max-Plank-Gesellschaft (biology) |
| Dr. Evelies Mayer | Teached sociology at the TH Darmstadt since 1972, from 1991 till 1995 she held office as minister of state of science and art of the state of Hessen |
| Michael Meister | Since the retirement of Friedrich Merz in 2004 he works as deputy chairman of the CDU-CSU faction party in the German Bundestag (mathematics) |
| Helmut Meyer | In 1960 head of the institute for physical exercise at the TH Darmstadt, from 1989 till 1993 president of the German Amateur Athletic Association |
| Prof. h.c. (CHN), Dr.-Ing. E.h. Dr. Ulrich Middelmann | Member of the supervisory board, Deutsche Telekom AG, former vice chairman of the executive board ThyssenKrupp AG (mechanical engineering) |
| Jens Mohr | Chief executive and majoritarian share holder of Süss Oberflächentechnik. (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Erwin Pesch | In 2012 the IT business engineer received the Kopernikus-price for German-Polish cooperation of the German Research Association (DFG) and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). (mathematics and computer science) |
| Prof. Dr. Carl Adam Petri | Mathematican and professor of computer science, inventor of the Petri net (mathematics) |
| Hans Dieter Pötsch | Member of the management board, Volkswagen AG, responsible for finance and controlling (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Werner Prätorius | Member of the strategic advisory board of Myriant, worked nearly 30 years for BASF, non-executive member of the administrative board of the EMS-Chemie Holding AG (chemical technology) |
| Dr. Thomas Pröckl | CFO, Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch | Chairman of the management board, DB Mobility Logistics AG, responsible for transport and logistics (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefanie Reese | Manageress of the professorship and the institute for applied mathematics at the university of Aachen (mechanics) |
| Dr. Martin Reitz | Managing director and head of investment banking for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Rothschild GmbH (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Hermann Requardt | Member of the management board, Siemens AG, sector CEO healthcare (physics) |
| Frank Rosenberger | Since August, 1st 2008 manager of Vodafone Germany and chairman of Arcor AG for consumer business. Made significant contributions to the introduction of the Prepaid-Service “CallYa” (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Michael Römer | Former chairman of the management board, Merck KGaA (chemistry) |
| Michael Sailer | CEO, Öko-Institut (chemistry) |
| Dr. Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug | Chairman of the Works Council of the Adam Opel AG. From 1999 to 2000 Schäfer-Klug was head of the Kooperationsstelle Wissenschaft und Arbeitswelt in Darmstadt. (political sciences, sociology and law) |
| Chris-Oliver Schickentanz | Chief Investment Officer of the Commerzbank AG (psychology, business economics and law) |
| Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schlink | Professor of public law and legal philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin, and author (law) |
| Peter Cachola Schmal | Director of Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt (architecture) |
| Peter Schnell | Cofounder of Software AG and founder of the Software AG Foundation (mathematics) |
| Peter Schulte-Laggenbeck | Member of the Executive Board of Otto Group – responsible for Finance and IT. Before 2005 he served as Member of the Executive Board for OBI for finance, Information Technology, and Logistics. (industrial and mechanical engineering) |
| Hermann Seiler | Project manager of the companies Al Alamia Trading FZC and Al Alamia Arabian Gulf FZC. Founder member of the department project financing of the Deutsche Bank. Graduated summa cum laude in mathematics and quantum mechanics. |
| Michael Söding | Since January 2010 Chairman of the Board at Schaeffler Automotive Aftermarket GmbH & Co. oHG (industrial and mechanical engineering) |
| Thomas Spitzenpfeil | From 2004 to 2010 Member of the Management Board (CFO) of the Zumtobel AG in Austria. Since 2010 Member of the Executive Board of the Carl Zeiss AG (industrial and mechanical engineering) |
| Klaus Stahlmann | Chief Executive Officer at Sulzer, former CEO at MAN Diesel and Turbo (electrical engineering and business economics) |
| Prof. Dr. Udo Steffens | Dean of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (political science) |
| Dr-Ing. Kira Stein | First woman who earned a doctor's degree in mechanical engineering at TU Darmstadt. In 2009 Stein was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her commitment to promote the creative potential of women in natural scientific and technicial professions (mechanical engineering) |
| Dr. Ulrich Stiebel | Co-owner of Stiebel Eltron (industrial engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Georg Unland | Finance minister of the Free State of Saxony (mechanical engineering) |
| Dr. Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph | Chairwoman of the Executive Boards of the European Strategy panel on Research (ESFRI), German delegation at CERN-Council, German delegation at the Governing Board Fusion for Energy (F4E) of the European ITER-Organisation, non-executive director of the research center Jülich GmbH, chairwoman of the board of directors at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH (chemics) |
| Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Klaus-Dieter Vöhringer | Former member of the management board, DaimlerChrysler AG (mechanical engineering) |
| Peter Vogt | The head of the company Pixomondo Germany in Frankfurt and his team won an Oscar with the 3D effects of the movie “Hugo Cabret” (architecture) |
| Frank Weber | Former vice-president business and product planning, Opel / Vauxhall (mechanical engineering) |
| Chaim Weizmann | First president of Israel (chemistry) |
| Prof. Dr. Johann Dietrich Wörner | President of TU Darmstadt from 1995 to 2007, since then, chairman of the board of governors of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (civil engineering) |
| Prof. Dr. Klaus L. Wübbenhorst | Chairman of the management board, Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) (industrial engineering) |
| Dr. Matthias Zieschang | Member of the executive board and executive director controlling and finance, Fraport AG (economics) |
| Dr. Holger Zinke | Chairman of the management board of the biotechnology company, BRAIN AG, that he founded in 1993. He was awarded with the renowned Deutsches Umweltpreis der Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt in 2008 and with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2010 (biology and chemistry) |
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Dr. Rainer Zitelmann | Managing partner of the Dr. ZitelmannPB. GmbH, initiator of the Berliner Immobilienrunde and manager of the ambition publishing company (history and political sciences) |
We forgot an important personality? We complement our gallery with pleasure and we look forward to your suggestions!