Accidental Death of Prof. Göpel

Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Wolfgang Goepel at his best
In the night to the 14. June 1999 Wolfgang Goepel died from the severe injuries he got three weeks ago by a traffic accident.
Wolfgang Göpel, Director of the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Tübingen, was at age 55, torn from life, after a car accident at the highpoint of his career. He was an extraordinary person who sprouted ideas and activities as if he had lived three lives simultaneously. First of all there was Göpel the scientist, who was never tired of grasping and pursuing new, fascinating ideas. His only limitation was that he could not do everything himself. Few people could follow his quick mind. So he jetted around the world in search of ever-newer stimulation. He was active in almost all areas of materials research where interfaces play an important role, in particular in the development of chemical and biochemical sensors, catalysts, fuel cells and batteries, bioelectronic devices, and medical and dental materials. The most active field here was definitely that of chemical sensors and sensor systems. Over 15 years he did, on the one hand, basic research on surface and interface properties of sensor materials, including semiconducting, ionically and mixed conducting oxides, polymers, supramolecular compounds, and biomolecules. There were well respected publications in journals like Progress in Surface Science on chemisorption processes on oxide surfaces, in Science on utilizing supramolecules for sensing of perchloroethylene, and in Nature on sensing different enantiomers of a chiral compound. On the other hand, he worked on truly solving the practical problems, which are encountered when not only prototype sensors but also industrially applicable sensors are developed. This combination of basic science and application oriented research was typical for him because scientific problems which did not show a practical application, were not really interesting for him. He was therefore also unique in providing liaison between scientific research and industrial applications. The highpoint of his technology transfer activity was the development of the electronic nose MOSES II which is commercially available and is able to sniff odors and thereby can, for example, be utilized in the quality and process control of foodstuffs, packaging materials, or plastics in cars. Newer developments aim at applications in medical diagnosis or in producing a small, cheap counterpart to MOSES II for specific consumer needs. For the latter development he received in 1998, together with his colleagues Baltes from the ETH Zürich and Rudan from the University of Bologna, the Körber European Science Award which is the highest research award on a European level. There was also Göpel the teacher, who despite many attractive offers from industry, never turned his back on the university because educating students lay so close to his heart. It was especially important to him to nurture students and co-workers and prepare them for "real life" after their studies so that they would not be imprisoned in their ivory towers, but remain comfortable at the boundaries between disciplines. Through their work in the always more than 20 national and international projects and in particular in large networks like the "European Network of Excellence on Artificial Olfactory Sensing `NOSE´" or the Competence Center "Nanotechnology - Functionality through Chemistry" they got to know the industrial environment and established a lot of contacts which enabled them to find good positions after finishing their Ph.D.. Finally, there was Göpel the person, who understood better than anyone, how to inspire others with his ideas, to simply captivate people with his special persona, his radiant eyes, and his impressive gestures. He never fought for himself but for the good of the whole - the institute, the university, the economy of Germany and Europe and could therefore also be impatient to other people when he did not understand why others did not accept his position.
However, his most exceptional trait was to share his gifts with his co-workers without regard for hierarchy, which now helps us to continue his work.
This person, Göpel, was also never satisfied with his work. He had an extremely high work- load, a level that he also expected from his co-workers. However, he tried not to forget the personal aspects and to always have time for the problems of his co-workers. Last, but not least, his family and his home were important; a place for him to relax from work. Finally the official data of his life: After studying physics in Hannover he finished his Habilitation Thesis in Physical Chemistry on “Electron Spectroscopies at Metal Oxide Surfaces to Study Charge Transfer in Chemisorption and Catalysis” in 1975. From 1978 to 1980 he was visiting scientist and had visiting faculty positions at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (California, USA), the Stanford Synchrotron Laboratory (California, USA), the Xerox-Webster Research Center (New York, USA), the IBM Watson Research Center (New York, USA), the INIFTA and the University of La Plata (Argentina) with research on fundamentals of interface analysis in general, ferromagnetism in thin films for catalysts and magnetic storage devices, photoemission at semiconductor surfaces, and the use of synchrotron radiation to characterize interfaces for microelectronics or chemical applications. 1980 he was offered full professorships in Kassel (D), in Graz (A), and in Bozeman, Montana (USA). As the adventurer he was, he emigrated with the whole family to the US where he was Full Professor of Physics at the Physics Department of the Montana State University and Director of the “Center of Surface Science and Submicron Analysis” (a “Regional Instrumentation Center” of the National Science Foundation) till he returned back to Germany to chair the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Tübingen. 1997 he had also the offer as a full professor in the new Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Freiburg. 1996 he became director of the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Center "Interface Analysis and Sensors", 1998 director of the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Center "Quality Management for Energy Storage and Converter Devices" and head of Competence Center "Nanotechnology: Functionality through Chemistry".
Göpel´s many awards include the Christian Kuhlemann Award, the Young Scientists Award of the "Fonds der Chemischen Industrie", the British Council/DAAD Fellow Award, the Distinguished Award of the Steering Committee of the IMCS, the Distinguished Award of the Steering Committee of EUROSENSORS, the Koerber European Science Award and the Ford University Research Award in 1998, as well as Honorary Doctor Degrees from Odessa State University (Ukraine, Dr. phil.) and the Technical Highschool Linköping (Sweden, Dr. Ing.).
Göpel served on many professional society boards and committees, e.g., as vice-chairman of the National Science and Medical Institute, head of the committee on "Chemical Fundamentals of Sensor Technologies" of the DECHEMA Research Society, chairman of the Analytical Chemistry Section of the German Chemical Society, chairman of the Steering Committee of EUROSENSORS, Europeanc chairman of the International Conference on Chemical Sensors, and head of the Science Committee of the German Research Society "Forschungsgesellschaft für Meß- und Sensortechnik". He was on the board of well-respected scientific journals as Sensors & Actuators, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, Fresenius Journal of Analytical Chemistry, or Nanotechnology. And he held many patents, published more than 20 text books and 500 research papers, and was editor of the Wiley/VCH book series "Sensors", "Sensors Update", and "Sensor Applications".
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We have all lost a magnificent scientist, teacher, and person, and many of us a truly fine friend. Our only comfort is that we were fortunate to have known him as long as we did. And that he will live on in us, his coworkers. [The Goepel group]



In the night to the 14. June 1999 Wolfgang Goepel died from the severe injuries he got three weeks ago by a traffic accident. Wolfgang Göpel, Director of the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Tübingen, was at age 55, torn from life, after a car accident at the highpoint of his career. He was an extraordinary person who sprouted ideas and activities as if he had lived three lives simultaneously. First of all there was Göpel the scientist, who was never tired of grasping and pursuing new, fascinating ideas. His only limitation was that he could not do everything himself. Few people could follow his quick mind. So he jetted around the world in search of ever-newer stimulation. He was active in almost all areas of materials research where interfaces play an important role, in particular in the development of chemical and biochemical sensors, catalysts, fuel cells and batteries, bioelectronic devices, and medical and dental materials. The most active field here was definitely that of chemical sensors and sensor systems. Over 15 years he did, on the one hand, basic research on surface and interface properties of sensor materials, including semiconducting, ionically and mixed conducting oxides, polymers, supramolecular compounds, and biomolecules. There were well respected publications in journals like Progress in Surface Science on chemisorption processes on oxide surfaces, in Science on utilizing supramolecules for sensing of perchloroethylene, and in Nature on sensing different enantiomers of a chiral compound. On the other hand, he worked on truly solving the practical problems, which are encountered when not only prototype sensors but also industrially applicable sensors are developed. This combination of basic science and application oriented research was typical for him because scientific problems which did not show a practical application, were not really interesting for him. He was therefore also unique in providing liaison between scientific research and industrial applications. The highpoint of his technology transfer activity was the development of the electronic nose MOSES II which is commercially available and is able to sniff odors and thereby can, for example, be utilized in the quality and process control of foodstuffs, packaging materials, or plastics in cars. Newer developments aim at applications in medical diagnosis or in producing a small, cheap counterpart to MOSES II for specific consumer needs. For the latter development he received in 1998, together with his colleagues Baltes from the ETH Zürich and Rudan from the University of Bologna, the Körber European Science Award which is the highest research award on a European level. There was also Göpel the teacher, who despite many attractive offers from industry, never turned his back on the university because educating students lay so close to his heart. It was especially important to him to nurture students and co-workers and prepare them for "real life" after their studies so that they would not be imprisoned in their ivory towers, but remain comfortable at the boundaries between disciplines. Through their work in the always more than 20 national and international projects and in particular in large networks like the "European Network of Excellence on Artificial Olfactory Sensing `NOSE´" or the Competence Center "Nanotechnology - Functionality through Chemistry" they got to know the industrial environment and established a lot of contacts which enabled them to find good positions after finishing their Ph.D.. Finally, there was Göpel the person, who understood better than anyone, how to inspire others with his ideas, to simply captivate people with his special persona, his radiant eyes, and his impressive gestures. He never fought for himself but for the good of the whole - the institute, the university, the economy of Germany and Europe and could therefore also be impatient to other people when he did not understand why others did not accept his position. However, his most exceptional trait was to share his gifts with his co-workers without regard for hierarchy, which now helps us to continue his work. This person, Göpel, was also never satisfied with his work. He had an extremely high work- load, a level that he also expected from his co-workers. However, he tried not to forget the personal aspects and to always have time for the problems of his co-workers. Last, but not least, his family and his home were important; a place for him to relax from work. Finally the official data of his life: After studying physics in Hannover he finished his Habilitation Thesis in Physical Chemistry on “Electron Spectroscopies at Metal Oxide Surfaces to Study Charge Transfer in Chemisorption and Catalysis” in 1975. From 1978 to 1980 he was visiting scientist and had visiting faculty positions at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (California, USA), the Stanford Synchrotron Laboratory (California, USA), the Xerox-Webster Research Center (New York, USA), the IBM Watson Research Center (New York, USA), the INIFTA and the University of La Plata (Argentina) with research on fundamentals of interface analysis in general, ferromagnetism in thin films for catalysts and magnetic storage devices, photoemission at semiconductor surfaces, and the use of synchrotron radiation to characterize interfaces for microelectronics or chemical applications. 1980 he was offered full professorships in Kassel (D), in Graz (A), and in Bozeman, Montana (USA). As the adventurer he was, he emigrated with the whole family to the US where he was Full Professor of Physics at the Physics Department of the Montana State University and Director of the “Center of Surface Science and Submicron Analysis” (a “Regional Instrumentation Center” of the National Science Foundation) till he returned back to Germany to chair the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the University of Tübingen. 1997 he had also the offer as a full professor in the new Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Freiburg. 1996 he became director of the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Center "Interface Analysis and Sensors", 1998 director of the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Center "Quality Management for Energy Storage and Converter Devices" and head of Competence Center "Nanotechnology: Functionality through Chemistry". Göpel´s many awards include the Christian Kuhlemann Award, the Young Scientists Award of the "Fonds der Chemischen Industrie", the British Council/DAAD Fellow Award, the Distinguished Award of the Steering Committee of the IMCS, the Distinguished Award of the Steering Committee of EUROSENSORS, the Koerber European Science Award and the Ford University Research Award in 1998, as well as Honorary Doctor Degrees from Odessa State University (Ukraine, Dr. phil.) and the Technical Highschool Linköping (Sweden, Dr. Ing.). Göpel served on many professional society boards and committees, e.g., as vice-chairman of the National Science and Medical Institute, head of the committee on "Chemical Fundamentals of Sensor Technologies" of the DECHEMA Research Society, chairman of the Analytical Chemistry Section of the German Chemical Society, chairman of the Steering Committee of EUROSENSORS, Europeanc chairman of the International Conference on Chemical Sensors, and head of the Science Committee of the German Research Society "Forschungsgesellschaft für Meß- und Sensortechnik". He was on the board of well-respected scientific journals as Sensors & Actuators, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, Fresenius Journal of Analytical Chemistry, or Nanotechnology. And he held many patents, published more than 20 text books and 500 research papers, and was editor of the Wiley/VCH book series "Sensors", "Sensors Update", and "Sensor Applications". . We have all lost a magnificent scientist, teacher, and person, and many of us a truly fine friend. Our only comfort is that we were fortunate to have known him as long as we did. And that he will live on in us, his coworkers. [The Goepel group]