On January 31, 2024, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Jürgen Giesecke died in Gerlingen at the age of 91. We have lost an amiable and highly esteemed scientist, colleague and friend.
From 1971 to 2000, Prof. Giesecke held the Chair of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management at the Faculty's former Institute of Hydraulic Engineering. Born in Constance in 1932, Prof. Giesecke studied civil engineering at the TH Stuttgart, as the University of Stuttgart was then known. He gained his doctorate in 1960 with a thesis on soil mechanics and habilitated in 1965 with a thesis on hydropower plants. He moved from the University of Stuttgart to Dorsch Consult in Munich in 1968, where he set up a geotechnical department. In October 1971, Jürgen Giesecke returned to Stuttgart and became Managing Director of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering with around 60 employees, alternating with his colleague, Prof. Helmut Kobus. He supervised more than 40 doctorates and five habilitations and taught at the University of Stuttgart until 2003.
Jürgen Giesecke was wholeheartedly involved in the university's academic self-administration, was Dean and a member of the Senate for many years. He took over as Rector of the University of Stuttgart from October 1990 to September 1992. Together with his predecessor in office, Prof. Franz Effenberger, he was committed to the establishment of the International Meeting Center (IBZ). He was the founding chairman of the IBZ Association and headed it until 2017.
He has always been able to combine his academic career with voluntary work in various national and international committees and professional associations. Over the course of his professional career, he played a central role in no fewer than 35 specialist committees and was a member of 17 scientific organizations. Particularly noteworthy are his functions as Vice President and President of the DVWK and, following its merger with the ATV, his involvement in the DWA Executive Board as Chairman of the Main Committee "Hydraulic Engineering and Hydropower". In his activities for the DWA and the DVWK, Jürgen Giesecke has succeeded in an outstanding manner over the years in transferring the findings from his university research into the professional practice of rule-making and educational work. As President of the DVWK and as a member of the DWA Executive Board, he rendered outstanding services to the merger of the ATV and DVWK to form the DWA and the integration of the two associations following the merger in 2000.
In 1992, he was awarded the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his wide-ranging commitment and as an outstanding professor of hydraulic engineering. In 1998, the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich awarded him an honorary doctorate for his work in establishing the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying. In the same year, he was awarded the Hubert Engels Medal of Honor for his contribution to the establishment of new faculties and institutes of water engineering at the TU Dresden. The DWA awarded Jürgen Giesecke the Theodor Rehbock Medal in 2008.
Silke Wieprecht (+kur) Translated with DeepL.com (free version)