Mourning Peter Armbruster
08.07.2024 |
The employees of GSI and FAIR mourn the loss of their former division head
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Armbruster
* 25.7.1931 † 26.6.2024
who passed away at the age of 92.
Peter Armbruster created and achieved groundbreaking research in his long and fulfilling life. This applies in particular to his achievements for and at GSI, where he was a leading scientist and a longstanding member of the Scientific Directorate from 1971 to 1996. His main areas of research were nuclear fission, atomic physics and the interaction of heavy ions with matter. As the initiator of the research program for the synthesis and study of superheavy elements at GSI, he and his research team succeeded in discovering the chemical elements 107 - Bohrium, 108 - Hassium, 109 - Meitnerium, 110 - Darmstadtium, 111 - Roentgenium and 112 - Copernicium. These results contributed significantly to GSI's scientific reputation and also to its visibility beyond the scientific community. He was also a co-discoverer of proton radioactivity in 1982. From 1984, he was professor at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (now Technische Universität Darmstadt). From 1989 to 1992, he was Director of Research at the European Institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble (France). Subsequently, back at GSI, he achieved outstanding research with the FRS fragment separator on the production and investigation of neutron-rich isotopes by means of nuclear fission in flight. By establishing numerous research collaborations, he has made a significant contribution to the internationalization of GSI research.
For his scientific achievements he has received many prestigious awards in Germany and abroad, among others the Max Born Prize of the British Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (1988), the Stern-Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society (1997), the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (1997) and the Lise Meitner Prize of the European Physical Society (2000). He was also awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class, the Hessian Order of Merit and the Johann Heinrich Merck Medal.
GSI and FAIR bid farewell to its former division head and outstanding scientist Peter Armbruster with the greatest gratitude and respect.
Management, Works Council and Employees of the GSI and FAIR GmbH
