Interview with Prof. em. Dr. Helmut Neunzert

»It is a privilege to still be able to 'have a play' at the Fraunhofer ITWM on a cerebral level«

Interview / November 28, 2022

Every year, the Palatinate District Association awards the Palatinate Future Prize for outstanding innovations, top achievements in research and science, and sustainable development of our region. With the Lifetime Achievement Award, it honors individuals who have rendered outstanding services to these areas throughout their lives. In 2022, one of these honors will go to Prof. em. Dr. Helmut Neunzert, with whom our institute has a very special connection. He was co-founder and director of the Fraunhofer ITWM.

Dear Prof. Neunzert, you have played a major role in shaping mathematics in Kaiserslautern and have set the course for our institute; among other things, you are receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award of the District Association Palatinate today for this. What hurdles did you have to overcome on the way to founding the institute?

I had our first idea of founding a Fraunhofer Institute around 1985 together with the then president of the TU Kaiserslautern, Dieter Maaß: Our working group at the Department of Mathematics was very active in Germany in the field of »Mathematics for Industry« and Fraunhofer meant »Science for Industry«. But the Fraunhofer Society immediately shook its head: mathematics was too abstract and did not fit Fraunhofer.

In 1995, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which had always contributed financially to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, also wanted to host an institute and appointed a search committee, which then found and named us as one of the three possible institutes. I was 59 and therefore hesitant, but »my young people« – that is, my working group – saw a great opportunity. So it was with great enthusiasm that we agreed to embark on the adventure. Again, the Fraunhofer board was skeptical, but the state science minister, Jürgen Zöllner, believed in us and negotiated a trial period of five years with Fraunhofer (which the state financed). »My young people,« the selection committee and the minister are to thank for the establishment of the institute, which I then directed during the probationary period and led to final acceptance. Those were the most laborious years of my life.

You have certainly inspired many people; but who inspired you?

In my studies, it was the physicist Werner Heisenberg, who taught me as an undergraduate that no question from students is too stupid, even for a famous scientist, and that exciting ideas can develop in long discussions with students. Later, the Pakistani physics Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam, who, as director of the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, made it clear to me that developing countries are also full of young, enthusiastic scientists who can learn a lot from us, but also that we can learn a lot from them. In the 1980s, there were quite a few mathematicians in Europe on a similar path toward »Industrial Mathematics« as we were, some even a little ahead of us. And finally, I was most inspired by the young people in my research group, who set out on the uncertain path with such enthusiasm.

Presentation of the Future Awards of the Pfalz District Association: The winners — © view / Reiner Voß
Presentation of the Future Awards of the Pfalz District Association: The 2022 award winners (from left): Jonas Spieler, Julian Bender, Hannah and Jule Seidel, Mario Schweikert, Maria-Theresa Licka, Prof. Dr. Helmut Neunzert and Dr. Wolfgang Reiser with Theo Wieder, Chairman of the District Council.

What events shaped your life, both professionally and privately?

That's a difficult question, of course. To begin with: What has shaped me most is that I met my wife in 1957 and have lived with her for 65 years; that my two sons and one granddaughter and four grandsons were born. That I spent 42 of my 86 years in Palatinate, 30 years in Bavaria and 14 years near Aachen, with about a fifth of the 42 Palatinate years spent abroad.

But three special experiences were also formative:

First, the end of the war, the total destruction of the house in which I lived with my mother, being dug out after two hours. Then the late homecoming of my father as a rather passive, but nevertheless long-standing party member. And the growing awareness that Germany had incurred a great debt, so that I saw an improvement of the German reputation as a life task.

Second, my apprenticeship as a scientist at the Jülich Research Center. I had studied »very pure mathematics« in Munich and was plunged headlong into mathematical physics at Jülich. There I realized how important this »applied mathematics« is also for modern technologies. It also became clear to me that the classical university education in mathematics does not focus on this important aspect of »mathematics as technology«. If I were ever to return to a university, I wanted to do better – and that's what I then really tried to do in Kaiserslautern.

...where you moved in 1974 as professor for »Mathematical Foundations for Physics and Technology«...

We had projects there in which we wanted to find out which mathematical innovations would be particularly effective in practice. We traveled as »mathematics representatives« through the German, the European, also the Indian industry. The results of these projects suggested the idea of a mathematical Fraunhofer Institute as early as the 1980s.

And thirdly, the meeting with the already mentioned Pakistani Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, who explained to me how many enthusiastic, intelligent young scientists from developing countries are striving for a better education. This fitted in well with my aforementioned efforts to improve Germany's image in the world. Because »my young people« also joined in enthusiastically, a postgraduate course in »Industrial Mathematics« succeeded, in which a total of almost 200 students from developing countries successfully participated between 1988 and 2000, many of whom maintain close ties with Kaiserslautern to this day.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a mathematician?

After school, because I enjoyed the subject the most and found it relatively easy. Besides, there really wasn't that much choice of possible professions in 1954, nine years after the end of the war. So why not a math teacher?

What advice do you give to students and young scientists?

Very briefly: Mathematics is incredibly fun because you can try out your own creativity. But mathematics is also a sure way into an interesting job if you make a little effort to look for the countless mathematically solvable problems that exist in practice.

And finally: Come to Kaiserslautern – at no other university in Germany can you already experience first-hand during your studies how mathematics is done in your later career. At no other workplace can you observe so many new mathematical ideas for solving real problems and develop them yourself as at Fraunhofer ITWM.

You've been living at Chiemsee since 2016. What connections do you still have to Kaiserslautern?

Very many, certainly more than twice every week, on the phone, via e-mail, and less frequently through visits by Fraunhofer ITWM staff. It is a pleasure to see the institute grow. It is a need for me to get to know new ideas for solutions. I am happy when new employees introduce themselves. I study the annual report and become concerned when a project moves slowly. I want to understand how a problem was solved. It is a privilege to live in a beautiful area and to still be able to participate on a cerebral level at Fraunhofer ITWM.

Interview