Board of Directors Member Professor Harald Bolt Passes Away
Jülich, 30 July 2021 – Forschungszentrum Jülich is mourning the passing of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt. He died this week at the age of 60 after a serious illness. Harald Bolt had been a member of the Board of Directors since 2008 and led the scientific division that included the Institute of Energy and Climate Research, the Central Institute of Engineering, Electronics and Analytics, and, until recently, the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences. “We are all very shocked and saddened by this news. Prof. Bolt’s death comes as a major loss to Forschungszentrum Jülich, as a colleague, as a person, and as a scientist. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family. During his many years on the Board of Directors, Harald Bolt played a major role in the strategic orientation of Forschungszentrum Jülich. He had a lasting impact on scientific topics and the positioning of energy and climate research as well as bio- and geosciences. We are deeply grateful to him for this. With him, we have lost an excellent strategist and a great character. He was someone who was fully committed to research, while at the same time being calm and collected, full of good humour, and always willing to give anyone his time. He will be sorely missed,” said Prof. Wolfgang Marquardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Harald Bolt was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Energy and Climate Research along with the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences to help shape research into the profound transformation processes taking place in society. Major scientific priorities were formed in these areas during his tenure. Jülich’s expertise in these fields are contributing to the energy transition, fighting climate change, and developing a resource-conserving bioeconomy, as well as to the creation of new added value and the management of structural change in the Rhineland.
Prof. Bolt had been associated with Forschungszentrum Jülich for a long time. Even before he became a member of the Board of Directors, he headed a working group for plasma technology at Jülich and was awarded the Gerhard Hess Prize in 1994 by the German Research Foundation (DFG). From 1999 to 2008, he was a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and director at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching. Since 1999, he has been an honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich.
The scientific focus of Harald Bolt’s work was in materials research. For example, he developed materials and coatings that help to confine the hot plasma in fusion devices like ITER and he also investigated the interactions of these materials with the fusion plasma. He performed a number of roles on national and international committees. Most recently, he was elected chairman of the University Council of Aachen University of Applied Sciences in 2020. He was also a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, vice president of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), and held positions with several other bodies.
You are invited to offer your condolences and share your memories of Professor Harald Bolt.
Contact:
Dr. Manuel Pomaska
Executive Assistant
Tel.: +49 2461 61-1809
E-Mail: m.pomaska@fz-juelich.de
Press contact:
Erhard Zeiss
Corporate Communications
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Tel.: +49 2461 61-1841
E-Mail: e.zeiss@fz-juelich.de