Helmut Volz Medal

The Helmut Volz Medal is the highest distinction awarded by FAU’s Faculty of Engineering. It is presented to individuals who have supported the Faculty’s interests through their work. The medal has been bestowed upon people who have provided outstanding support to the Faculty since 1979 in memory of Prof. Dr. Helmut Volz (1911–1978), the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. Helmut Volz was a physicist whose goal was to integrate disciplines of engineering among the traditional scientific disciplines. The Helmut Volz Medal is donated by the University and the University Association, and is presented by the Faculty of Engineering. The Helmut Volz Medal has been awarded to:

• Dr. Siegfried Balleis, former mayor of the city of Erlangen
• Hans Brand, retired Ministerialdirigent (senior public servant) formerly from Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts
• Walter Braun, Konsul Senator, former president of Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Dr. August Drechsler, former president of Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Dr. Dietrich Ernst, former director of Siemens AG and head of systems development in the energy and automation technology division in Erlangen
• Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Fiebiger, former FAU president
• Albert Geyer, former entrepreneur and vice president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Prof. Dr. Ernst Golling, former head of education at Siemens AG, honorary chairman of the Friends of the Faculty of Engineering, Erlangen
• Dr. Manfred Gross, Siemens AG, director of the Friends of the Faculty of Engineering, honorary professor at FAU
• Prof. Dr. Manfred Hessenberger, former centre manager for logistics at Daimler Chrysler AG, honorary professor at FAU
• Klaus Jasper, Ministerialdirigent a.D. (senior public servant, retired)
• Dr. Gerhard Jooss, member of the Executive Board at Friedrich Krupp AG, Essen
• Dr. Peter Kalisch, director of central technology at Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG
• Dr. med. h.c. Kurt Köhler, former chancellor of FAU
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Erich R. Reinhardt, chairman of the management board of Medical Valley EMN e.V.
• Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ulrich Rösler, former head of the materials development division at Siemens-Schuckert-Werke Erlangen and honorary professor at FAU
• Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm, member of the shareholders’ committee of the Voith enterprise
• Prof. Dr. Dieter Seitzer, president of the Bavarian Research Foundation, Munich
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Erich Tenckhoff, former chairman of the Friends of the Faculty of Engineering
• Senator e. h. Dipl.-Ing. Hans-Georg Waeber, former director of Brown, Boveri & Cie AG
• Donald Welbourn , B MA, Director in Industrial Cooperation, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Dr.-Ing. E.h. Helmut Wilhelms, former member of the Managing Board at Siemens AG

Helmut Volz was born on 1 August 1911 in Göppingen, Germany. He attended school in his home town before studying mathematics and physics in Tübingen and Munich. He completed his doctoral degree under the supervision of Hans Geiger in Tübingen in 1935 and then spent two years at the institute led by Werner Heisenberg at the University of Leipzig. He completed his Habilitation in Berlin in 1943 and then became a lecturer at FAU, where he was appointed as an associate professor in 1946. He was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1958.

Helmut Volz was the driving force behind the foundation of the Faculty of Engineering, opened in 1966, and became the Founding Dean of the Faculty. Helmut Volz died on 23 October 1978 shortly after his retirement.