Johann-Dietrich Wörner

Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Johann-Dietrich Wörner
Director General of the European Space Agency
Assumed office
1 July 2015
Preceded by Jean-Jacques Dordain
Personal details
Born (1954-07-18) July 18, 1954
Kassel
Citizenship European
Nationality German
Alma mater TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt

Johann-Dietrich "Jan" Wörner (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːhan ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈvœʁnɐ]), born 18 July 1954 in Kassel, is a German civil engineer, university professor and former president of Technische Universität Darmstadt. He served as chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center DLR from 1 March 2007 to 30 June 2015. On 1 July 2015, he succeeded Jean-Jacques Dordain as Director General of the European Space Agency.

Academic and Public Career

Wörner studied civil engineering at Technische Universität Berlin and at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, now called Technische Universität Darmstadt. He visited Japan in 1982 as part of a research stay on the subject of earthquake safety. In 1985, he did his doctorate on component–building interactions during earthquakes.[lower-alpha 1] Until 1990, Wörner worked for the engineering office König und Heunisch in Frankfurt. In the same year, he was appointed professor for solid construction and head of the testing and research institute at TH Darmstadt. He founded his own engineering office Wörner und Partner in 1994. From 1992 to 1994 Wörner served as dean of the university's civil engineering department. Starting in 1993, he also held the office of technical director at the Gelsenkirchen institute for glass construction. Wörner was appointed a test engineer for structural analysis and solid construction in 1994 and a professor of structural engineering in 1995.

On 28 June 1995, he was elected president by the assembly of what was then called the TH Darmstadt and lead the University from 24 July 1995 to 28 February 2007.

Wörner was elected deputy speaker for Universities in the German Rectors' Conference in 2002. In 2003, he became speaker of ARGE TU/TH, the technical universities and technological institutes working group. In 2003 he joined the science council's Ranking working group and assumed the chair for structural analysis for superstructures at the University's architecture department as a provisional substitute. In 2004, he joined the science council's Universities working group.

In February 2011, the state government of Baden-Württemberg appointed him to serve as a mediator for the controversial railroad infrastructure project Stuttgart 21, after he had already mediated talks concerning airport constructions in Frankfurt.[2]

On 18 December 2014, the European Space Agency announced that Wörner would assume the office of director general for four years on 1 July 2015.[3]

On 19 October 2016 Wörner claimed that the attempted landing of the Schiaparelli probe was a success despite the failure of the mission one minute before the attempted landing.[4] Not only was the parachute released early, but moreover the retrorockets fired for only 3s rather than the required 30s. The probe crashed into the surface at 300 km per hour, leaving a 40m wide impact site.[5]

Johann-Dietrich Wörner, ESA Director General

Other Offices and Committee Memberships

Awards and Honors

Notes

  1. ↑ Ein Beitrag zur realistischen Beschreibung der Komponenten-Bauwerk-Wechselwirkung bei Erdbeben[1]

Citations

References

Media related to Johann-Dietrich Wörner at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
Jean-Jacques Dordain		 Director General of the European Space Agency
2015– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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