Obituary for Prof. Dietrich Habs, former Chair of Nuclear Physics
27.08.2024
On Saturday, August 24, 2024, Prof. Dietrich Habs, former Chair of Nuclear Physics at LMU in Garching, passed away at age 79. Prof. Habs came to LMU in 1996 from the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and held the Chair of Nuclear Physics until his retirement in 2010. He continued his research during the interim period until the Chair of Medical Physics was established in 2012.
Prof. Habs was a powerhouse of energy and a source of countless innovative physical ideas, translating his enthusiasm about progress in physics to everybody around him. Equally productive at the forefront of nuclear and detector physics, atomic physics and accelerator physics, he inspired and guided many high-impact physics projects and research lines, like the REX-ISOLDE radioactive ion post-accelerator at CERN with the MINIBALL gamma-spectroscopy array and the Cluster of Excellence MAP (Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics) in Garching with the introduction of laser-particle acceleration into the portfolio of the LMU physics faculty. With equal vigour he mentored early career scientists and conveyed his physical insights to generations of students during his lectures.
His colleagues and scientific disciples will miss his inspiring enthusiasm about physical research and keep his memory as of a role model of a sharp-minded and visionary scientist.