Axel Freimuth

2007

Axel Freimuth (born 27 October 1957) is a German physicist. On 1 April 2005 he succeeded the mathematician Tassilo Küpper as Rector of Cologne University. His initial appointment was for a term of four years but this has subsequently been extended.[1][2]

Life

Axel Freimuth was born at Duisburg.[3] He studied Physics at the University of Cologne, receiving his doctorate and 1989 and his post-doctoral habilitation in 1994. His dissertations were titled as follows:

  • 1989 Über die Transporteigenschaften valenzinstabiler Verbindungen
  • 1994 Transporteigenschaften im gemischten Zustand der Hochtemperatur-Supraleiter

While a student he also took work as a supply teacher at the comprehensive school in Cologne-Chorweiler and further supplemented his income by working as a truck driver, although in a later interview he insisted that during those years he never lost sight of his core academic goals.[2]

In 1996 he accepted an invitation to transfer to Karlsruhe (KIT) as a Professor of Physics at the university Physics Institute.[4] However, in 1998 he was tempted back to Cologne, accepting a "C-4 professorship" in experimental solid state physics.[1] His principal areas of research within the field of solid state physics include superconductivity, magnetism and electronic strongly correlated matter.[4]

Axel Freimuth was chair of the University Physics Group between April 2000 and 2003.[3] In 2002 he undertook a research stay at the University of British Columbia[3] in Vancouver.[5]

When you were at school, did you know what you wanted to study at university?

  • "I was not that good at school. But there was no subject at which I was so bad that I could not have studied it [at university level]. Apart from art.... Till a year before ending my time at school I wanted to study German and Philosophy. Then I decided in favour of Natural Sciences on pragmatic grounds. I thought I would have a go at Physics. No Medicine, no Biology. Cutting up dead frogs did not really do it for me."
  • "Ich war kein guter Schüler. Aber ich war in keinem Fach so schlecht, dass ich es nicht hätte studieren können. Bis auf Kunst (lacht). Bis ein Jahr vor dem Abitur wollte ich Deutsch und Philosophie studieren. Ich habe mich dann aber aus pragmatischen Gründen für eine Naturwissenschaft entschieden. Ich dachte, ich versuch’s mit Physik. Keine Medizin, nicht Biologie. An Fröschen rumsezieren wäre nicht meine Sache."
Axel Freimuth, interviewed by Inge Wozelka and Vanesa Borbas in Express, 2015[2]

In 2003 he became dean of the Faculty for Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Cologne, and in April 2005 he became the university's forty-ninth rector since 1919.[1][6] At the end of 2005 he was invited to take on the leadership of the prestigious Jülich Research Centre but turned down the invitation in order to renew his contract for the rectorship at Cologne where he has become the longest serving university rector in more than a century. He served between 2008 and 2010 as chair of the regional rectors' conference and of the Cologne Sciences Forum ("Kölner Wissenschaftsrunde"). He also involved himself with the German Physics Society ("Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft" / DPG) and in committees of the Munich-based Max Planck Society.[3]

In 2014 Axel Freimuth came second in the election for "University rector of the year", organised by the University Teachers' Association ("Deutscher Hochschulverband" / DHV), beaten to top position by second time winner Lambert T. Koch of Wuppertal.[7]

Personal

Asked about his hobbies, Freimuth disclosed that he tries to find half an hour to play the guitar each evening, sometimes playing along to film music on the television. He also likes to cook. He went on to indicate, however, that his family are less than enthusiastic about his guitar playing, and the cooking loses its appeal when he is dieting.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Prof. Dr. Axel Freimuth vom Senat als Rektor bestätigt". Christian Weis GmbH (Business-on.de), Engelskirchen. 7 January 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Inge Wozelka; Vanesa Borbas (20 April 2015). "Kölner Uni-Rektor im Köln-Gespräch". DuMont.next GmbH & Co. KG (Express), Köln. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Axel Freimuth". Universität zu Köln. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Professor Dr. Axel Freimuth, bisher Universität Karlsruhe, ist zum Universitätsprofessor C 4 für Materialphysik am II. Physikalischen Institut der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät ernannt worden. Gleichzeitig ist er ..." Neue Professorinnen und Professoren an der Universität zu Köln. Universität zu Köln. 19 November 1998. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  5. ↑ "Senat bestätigt Rektor Professor Dr. Axel Freimuth". Hochschulnachrichten, Bad Homburg. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Universität zu Köln". PerliStige. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "Professor Dr. Lambert Koch ist "Rektor des Jahres"". Pressemitteilung ... Deutsche Wissenschaftler geben Rektoren und Präsidenten als Note eine Drei Plus. Deutscher Hochschulverband, Bonn. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
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