70 Notable alumni of
RWTH Aachen University
Updated:
RWTH Aachen University is 717th in the world, 257th in Europe, and 33rd in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 70 notable alumni from RWTH Aachen University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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B. J. Habibie
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- In 1962 graduated with Doctor of Engineering
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was an Indonesian politician, engineer and scientist who served as the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice president in March 1998, he succeeded Suharto, who resigned after 32 years in office, thereby being the only vice president to assume the presidency in such a manner. Originating from Sulawesi with Bugis-Gorontalese and Javanese ancestry, his presidency was seen as a landmark and transition to the Reform era.
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Karl Lauterbach
- Occupations
- politicianphysicianhealth economistnon-fiction writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Karl Wilhelm Lauterbach is a German scientist, physician, and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who has served as Federal Minister of Health since 8 December 2021. He is professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne (on leave since 2005). Since the 2005 German federal election, he has been a member of the Bundestag (the German parliament).
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Necmettin Erbakan
- Occupations
- engineerpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Necmettin Erbakan was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later banned from politics by the Constitutional Court of Turkey for allegedly violating the separation of religion and state as mandated by the constitution.
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Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 2012
- Occupations
- science communicatortelevision presenterchemistscience journalistYouTuber
- Biography
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Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim is a German chemist, science communicator, television presenter and YouTuber. In June 2020 she was elected to the senate of the Max Planck Society.
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Jürgen von der Lippe
- Occupations
- screenwritermusiciantelevision presentertelevision actorcomedian
- Biography
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Hans-Jürgen Hubert Dohrenkamp, better known by his stage name Jürgen von der Lippe, is a German television presenter, entertainer, actor, musician and comedian. His stage name comes from the fact that he was born near the source of the river Lippe.
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Eike Batista
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Eike Fuhrken Batista da Silva is a Brazilian-German serial entrepreneur who made and lost a multi-billion dollar fortune in mining and oil and gas industries. He engaged in a quest to promote Brazil's infrastructure with large-scale projects, such as the Porto do Açu.
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Hugo Junkers
- Occupations
- university teachermilitary flight engineerengineerinventor
- Biography
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Hugo Junkers was a German aircraft engineer and aircraft designer who pioneered the design of all-metal airplanes and flying wings. His company, Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works), was one of the mainstays of the German aircraft industry in the years between World War I and World War II. His multi-engined, all-metal passenger- and freight planes helped establish airlines in Germany and around the world.
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Inga Humpe
- Occupations
- composerfilm actorsinger
- Biography
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Inga Humpe is a German singer, songwriter and producer. She performed with Neue Deutsche Welle bands such as Neonbabies, DÖF and Humpe & Humpe. Her sister is the singer and producer Annette Humpe, with whom she performed regularly during her career. The song "Riding into Blue (Cowboy Song)" produced by Trevor Horn became a minor hit in 1990. Later that year she released a solo studio album Planet Oz. She currently is in the band 2raumwohnung and lives in Berlin.
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Peter Debye
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 1901-1905
- Occupations
- physicistscientistchemistuniversity teachertheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Peter Joseph William Debye ForMemRS was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.
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Matthias Maurer
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 1999-2004
- Occupations
- astronautmaterials scientistscientist
- Biography
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Matthias Josef Maurer is a German ESA astronaut and materials scientist, who was selected in 2015 to take part in space training.
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Harald Krüger
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied mechanical engineering
- Occupations
- businesspersonmanagerchief executive officer
- Biography
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Harald Krüger is a German manager who served as the chairman of the board of management (CEO) for BMW; he was replaced on 16 August 2019 by Oliver Zipse, after he declined to be considered for contract renewal in 2020.
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Wendelin Wiedeking
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusiness executiveengineer
- Biography
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Wendelin Wiedeking is the former president and chief executive officer of the German car manufacturer, Porsche AG, a post he held from 1993 through July 23, 2009. He was also speaker of the company's executive committee and was a member of the supervisory board of Volkswagen AG from 2006 to 2009.
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Katrin Suder
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Graduated with Diplom in physics
- Occupations
- business consultantphysicistLGBTQ rights activist
- Biography
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Katrin Suder is a German physicist and management consultant who served as State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2014 to 2018.
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Karl Ziegler
- Occupations
- engineeruniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
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Karl Waldemar Ziegler was a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963, with Giulio Natta, for work on polymers. The Nobel Committee recognized his "excellent work on organometallic compounds...led to new polymerization reactions and... paved the way for new and highly useful industrial processes". He is also known for his work involving free-radicals, many-membered rings, and organometallic compounds, as well as the development of Ziegler–Natta catalyst. One of many awards Ziegler received was the Werner von Siemens Ring in 1960 jointly with Otto Bayer and Walter Reppe, for expanding the scientific knowledge of and the technical development of new synthetic materials.
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Thomas C. Südhof
- Occupations
- chemistbiochemistphysicianacademicuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Thomas Christian Südhof, ForMemRS, is a German-American biochemist known for his study of synaptic transmission. Currently, he is a professor in the school of medicine in the department of molecular and cellular physiology, and by courtesy in neurology, and in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
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Ulla Schmidt
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Ursula "Ulla" Schmidt is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). From 2001 to 2009 she was Federal Minister of Health in the German Government. Between 2013 and 2017, she served as Vice-President of the German Bundestag.
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Sonia Mikich
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- 1972-1979 studied political science
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Sonia Seymour Mikich is a German TV journalist.
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Thomas Rabe
- Occupations
- business executive
- Biography
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Thomas Rabe is a German business executive. He is currently the chairman of the German sportswear brand Adidas. In 2006, he was appointed to the Bertelsmann executive board, of which he has been chairman and chief executive officer since 2012. Under his leadership, the group has become more international, more digital and more diversified. In particular, he has advanced the business with music rights and the educational division. Additionally, Rabe was appointed chief executive officer of RTL Group in 2019.
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Oliver Krischer
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Oliver Krischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as State Minister for Environment, Nature Protection, and Transport in the government of Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst since 2022.
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Otto Schott
- Occupations
- inventorchemistglassmaker
- Biography
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Friedrich Otto Schott was a German chemist, glass technologist, and the inventor of borosilicate glass. Schott systematically investigated the relationship between the chemical composition of the glass and its properties. In this way, he solved fundamental problems in glass properties, identifying compositions with optical properties that approach the theoretical limit. Schott's findings were a major advance in the optics for microscopy and optical astronomy. His work has been described as "a watershed in the history of glass composition".
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Hans Schlegel
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- 1972-1979 graduated with Diplom in physics
- Occupations
- astronautphysicist
- Biography
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Hans Wilhelm Schlegel is a German physicist, a former ESA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions.
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Ena von Baer
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Ena Anglein von Baer Jahn is a Chilean journalist, political scientist and former senator.
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Mario Theissen
- Occupations
- engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Mario Theissen is the former BMW Motorsport Director and was team principal of BMW Sauber, the company's Formula One team from 2005 until 2009, when BMW sold the team back to Peter Sauber.
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Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peter Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach was Reich Postal Minister (Reichspostminister) and Reich Minister of Transport (Reichsminister für Verkehr) of Germany between 1932 and 1937.
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Joybrato Mukherjee
- Occupations
- university teacher
- Biography
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Joybrato Mukherjee is a German professor of English Linguistics and the president of the University of Cologne. When he took office in 2009, he was the youngest university president ever appointed in Germany. In June 2019, he was elected president of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); he took office on 1 January 2020.
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Friedrich Joussen
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied engineering
- Occupations
- manager
- Biography
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Friedrich Peter Johannes Joussen is a German businessman, and the former executive chairman (Vorstandsvorsitzender) of TUI Group (Touristik Union International).
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Arthur Eichengrün
- Occupations
- chemist
- Biography
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Arthur Eichengrün was a German Jewish chemist, materials scientist, and inventor. He is known for developing the highly successful anti-gonorrhea drug Protargol, the standard treatment for 50 years until the adoption of antibiotics, and for his pioneering contributions in plastics: co-developing (with Theodore Becker) the first soluble cellulose acetate materials in 1903, called "Cellit", and creating processes for the manufacture of these materials which were influential in the development of injection moulding. During World War I his relatively non-flammable synthetic cellulose acetate lacquers, marketed under the name "Cellon", were important in the aircraft industry. He contributed to photochemistry by inventing the first process for the production and development of cellulose acetate film, which he patented with Becker.
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Jesco von Puttkamer
- Occupations
- engineerscience fiction writermilitary flight engineerwriternon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Jesco Hans Heinrich Max Freiherr von Puttkamer was a German-American aerospace engineer, senior manager at NASA, and a pulp science fiction writer.
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Mariam Almheiri
- Years
- 1979-.. (age 46)
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri is an Emirati politician who is currently the head of the Office of International Affairs in the Presidential Court. She previously served as the minister of climate change and environment in the United Arab Emirates until 11 January 2024.
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Franz Josef Radermacher
- Occupations
- university teachermathematiciancomputer scientisteconomist
- Biography
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Franz Josef Radermacher is a German mathematician and economist. He is Professor of Informatics at Ulm University. He is one of the co-founders of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative that suggests a socio-ecological plan to eradicate poverty, increasing global wealth while protecting natural resources.
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Michael Espendiller
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 2013-2017
- Occupations
- mathematicianpolitician
- Biography
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Michael Espendiller is a German politician for the populist Alternative for Germany and since 2017 a member of the Bundestag.
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Nienke Brinkman
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 2016-2018
- Occupations
- marathon runnergeophysicistlong-distance runnertrail runner
- Biography
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Nienke Brinkman is a Dutch long-distance runner, both on the road as well as on trails. She won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, which was her first international medal, and has a personal best of 2:22:51 which she ran at the Rotterdam Marathon.
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Rolf Buch
- Occupations
- managerchief executive officer
- Biography
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Rolf Eberhard Buch is a German business executive. In 2013, he was appointed CEO of the real estate company Deutsche Annington, which, following the takeover of GAGFAH in the year 2015, was renamed Vonovia. Previously, Buch held an executive position at Arvato.
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Walter Hohmann
- Occupations
- engineercivil engineerastronomermilitary flight engineerarchitect
- Biography
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Walter Hohmann was a German engineer who made an important contribution to the understanding of orbital dynamics. In a book published in 1925, Hohmann demonstrated a fuel-efficient path to move a spacecraft between two different orbits, now called a Hohmann transfer orbit. He received his Ph.D. from the RWTH Aachen University in 1920.
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Jarosław Lasecki
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jarosław Wacław Lasecki is a Polish politician, entrepreneur and manager. He was a member of the Senate of the Republic of Poland in 2005–2007 and 2011–2015. He is married and has five children.
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Giuseppe Gabrielli
- Occupations
- engineermilitary flight engineer
- Biography
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Giuseppe Gabrielli was an Italian aeronautics engineer. He is famous as the designer of numerous Italian military aircraft, including the Fiat G.50 Freccia and G.55 World War II fighters.
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Kemal Şahin
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusinessperson
- Biography
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Kemal Şahin is a Turkish–German entrepreneur, a textile tycoon, and founder and CEO of Şahinler Holding. He is also an environmental activist against erosion.
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Ursula Gather
- Occupations
- university teacherstatistician
- Biography
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Ursula Gather is a German statistician and academic administrator. From 2008 to 2020, she was rector of TU Dortmund University. Since 2013, Gather has been chairwoman of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
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Heike Walpot
- Occupations
- aircraft pilot
- Biography
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Heike John is a German retired swimmer and former astronaut candidate.
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Rolf Martin Schmitz
- Occupations
- manager
- Biography
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Rolf Martin Schmitz is a German manager and the former chief executive officer (CEO) at the German utilities company RWE AG.
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Rolf Widerøe
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
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Rolf Widerøe was a Norwegian accelerator physicist who was the originator of many particle acceleration concepts, including the resonance accelerator and the betatron accelerator.
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Lu Yongxiang
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Lu Yongxiang is a Chinese mechanical engineer and politician. He served as President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress.
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Heike Raab
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Heike Raab is a German politician (SPD), currently serving as Deputy Minister of the Interior, for Sports and Infrastructure of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
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Rudolf Henke
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- 1972-1979 studied medicine
- Occupations
- politicianhematologistinternist
- Biography
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Rudolf Paul Maria Henke is a physician and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 2009 until 2021.
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Daniela De Ridder
- Occupations
- business consultanteconomistediting staffpoliticiansocial scientist
- Biography
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Daniela De Ridder is a German-Belgian politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Lower Saxony from 2013 until 2021 and again since May 2022.
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Herbert Mataré
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Herbert Franz Mataré was a German physicist. The focus of his research was the field of semiconductor research. His best-known work is the first functional European transistor, which he developed and patented together with Heinrich Welker in the vicinity of Paris in 1948, independent from the Bell Labs engineers who had developed the first transistor shortly before. The final 20 years of his life Mataré split time between his homes in Hückelhoven, Germany and Malibu, California. He was born in Aachen.
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Philipp Gruissem
- Occupations
- poker player
- Biography
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Philipp Gruissem is a German professional poker player from Krefeld.
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Georg Hamel
- Occupations
- university teachercryptographermathematician
- Biography
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Georg Karl Wilhelm Hamel was a German mathematician with interests in mechanics, the foundations of mathematics and function theory.
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Gunter Thielen
- Occupations
- manager
- Biography
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Gunter Thielen was chairman and chief executive officer of the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
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Martin C. Wittig
- Years
- 1964-.. (age 61)
- Occupations
- business executivemanageradviser
- Biography
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Martin C. Wittig was the German CEO of the management consultant firm Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. He is the successor/antecessor of CEO Burkhard Schwenker. Martin Christof Wittig is married and lives with his wife and his two sons near Zurich (Switzerland).
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Gerald Teschl
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
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Gerald Teschl is an Austrian mathematical physicist and professor of mathematics. He works in the area of mathematical physics; in particular direct and inverse spectral theory with application to completely integrable partial differential equations (soliton equations).
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Niklas Höhne
- Occupations
- climatologistresearcher
- Biography
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Niklas Höhne is a German scientist in the field of national and international climate policy and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. He is founder of the NewClimate Institute in Cologne, Germany and professor at Wageningen University.
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Wolfgang Dahmen
- Occupations
- university teachertaekwondo athletemathematician
- Biography
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Wolfgang Dahmen is a German mathematician working in approximation theory, numerical analysis, and partial differential equations. In 2002, he was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and in 2011 the Gauss Lectureship. He was also a taekwondo athlete. He has been the Chair of the Society for the Foundations of Computational Mathematics (2014–).
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Wolfgang Klemperer
- Occupations
- aerospace engineerglider pilotmilitary flight engineerengineer
- Biography
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Dr. Wolfgang Benjamin Klemperer was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of the Austrian nationals Leon and Charlotte Klemperer. He was in his time a prominent aviation and aerospace scientist and engineer, who ranks among the pioneers of early aviation.
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Bachtiar Aly
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- In 1984 studied philosophy
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistdiplomat
- Biography
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Bachtiar Aly is a professor from Indonesia who majored in Communication and Politics. He was the Indonesian Ambassador for Egypt from 2002–2005. From 2014 to 2019, he was member of the People's Representative Council under the Nasdem Party.
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Aldo R. Boccaccini
- Occupations
- materials scientistuniversity teachernuclear engineer
- Biography
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Aldo Roberto Boccaccini is a nuclear engineer and material scientist. He is currently a Professor of Biomaterials and Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
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Antonia Grunenberg
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Graduated with agrégation
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Antonia Grunenberg is a German political scientist, totalitarianism researcher and an expert on the political thought of Hannah Arendt. She is professor emerita at the University of Oldenburg, where she taught as a full professor from 1998 until her 2009 retirement, and where she was director of the Hannah Arendt Centre. She is also editor of the book series Hannah Arendt Studies.
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Neoklis Sylikiotis
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in mechanical engineering
- Occupations
- mechanical engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Neoklis Sylikiotis is a Cypriot politician. From July 2014 to July 2019, he was a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of GUE/NGL. Sylikiotis was the Cypriot Minister of the Interior between September 2006 and July 2007, and again, between March 2008 and March 2012. Between March 2012 and February 2013, he was Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. Sylikiotis is a member of leftist party AKEL.
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Max Alvary
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- In 1874 studied architecture
- Occupations
- opera singerarchitect
- Biography
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Max Alvary, born as Maximilian Achenbach, was a German operatic tenor.
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Detlef Zühlke
- Occupations
- engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Detlef Zuehlke is a German engineer and professor.
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Dörte Gatermann
- Occupations
- university teacherarchitect
- Biography
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Dörte Gatermann is a German architect who is best known for designing the Triangle Tower in Cologne.
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Gabriele Nebe
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Gabriele Nebe is a German mathematician with contributions in the theory of lattices, modular forms, spherical designs, and error-correcting codes. With Neil Sloane, she maintains the Online Catalogue of Lattices. She is a professor in the department of mathematics at RWTH Aachen University.
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Iwona Kozłowska
- Years
- 20th Century
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- Studied in 1996-1999
- Occupations
- diplomatcivil servant
- Biography
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Iwona Kozłowska is a Polish diplomat, who served as Poland's ambassador to Switzerland.
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Eckehard Schöll
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
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Eckehard Schöll is a German physicist and mathematician as well as a Professor of theoretical physics at Technische Universität Berlin. He is an expert in the field of nonlinear dynamics and head of the group Nonlinear dynamics and control. His work pertains to research in the fields of mathematics and physics, particularly semiconductor physics, neurodynamics and bifurcation theory. His latest research is also related to topics in biology and the social sciences, e.g. simulation of the dynamics in socioeconomic or neuronal networks. He is one of the forerunners into the research of chimera states.
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Ulrike Sattler
- Occupations
- information scientistuniversity teachercomputer scientist
- Biography
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Ulrike M. Sattler MAE is a professor of computer science in the information management group of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester and a visiting professor at the University of Oslo.
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Holger Braunschweig
- Enrolled in RWTH Aachen University
- 1988-1990 graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- university teacherchemist
- Biography
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Holger Braunschweig FRSC is Head and Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg in Würzburg, Germany. He is best known for founding the field of transition metal-boron multiple bonding, the synthesis of the first stable compounds containing boron-boron and boron-oxygen triple bonds, the isolation of the first non-carbon/nitrogen main-group dicarbonyl, and the first fixation of dinitrogen at an element of the p-block of the periodic table. By modifying a strategy pioneered by Prof. Gregory Robinson of the University of Georgia, Braunschweig also discovered the first rational and high-yield synthesis of neutral compounds containing boron-boron double bonds (diborenes). In 2016 Braunschweig isolated the first compounds of beryllium in the oxidation state of zero.
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Wolfgang Eisenmenger
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Wolfgang Eisenmenger was a German physicist.
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Maria Schwarz
- Occupations
- university teacherarchitect
- Biography
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Maria Schwarz was a German architect and professor best known for her church architecture.
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Fang Weigui
- Occupations
- translatoruniversity teacherliterary scholar
- Biography
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Fang Weigui is a Chinese comparative literature scholar, sinologist, and literary translator.
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Harald Pedersen
- Occupations
- professorpoliticianentrepreneurmetallurgistchemical engineer
- Biography
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Harald Christian Pedersen was a Norwegian metallurgist.
