Hermann Haken

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| name = Hermann Haken

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| image = Hermann Haken, Pour le Merite 2014 (cropped).jpg

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| caption = Haken in 2014

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|07|12|df=y}}

| birth_place = Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|08|14|1927|07|12|df=y}}

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| nationality = German

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| workplaces = University of Stuttgart

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| alma_mater = University of Erlangen

| thesis_title = Zum Identitätsproblem bei Gruppen

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| doctoral_advisor = Wilhelm Specht

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| doctoral_students = Aneta Stefanovska

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| known_for = Synergetics
Haken–Kelso–Bunz model

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| awards = Honda Prize (1992)
Max Planck Medal (1990)
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (1984)
Albert Michelson Medal (1981)
Max Born Medal and Prize (1976)

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Hermann Haken (12 July 1927 – 14 August 2024) was a German physicist and professor emeritus in theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is known as the founder of synergetics and one of the "fathers" of quantum-mechanical laser theory. He is a cousin of the mathematician Wolfgang Haken, who proved the Four color theorem. He was a nephew of Werner Haken, a doctoral student of Max Planck.

Biography

After his studies in mathematics and physics in Halle (Saale) and Erlangen, receiving his PhD in mathematics in 1951 at the University of ErlangenHis thesis was supervised by Wilhelm Specht and titled Zum Identitätsproblem bei Gruppen. and being guest lecturer at universities in the UK and US, Haken was appointed a full professor in theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart. His research has been in non linear optics (his specialities are laser physics, particle physics, statistical physics and group theory).

Haken developed his institute in a relatively short time to be an international centre for laser theory, starting in 1960 when Theodore Maiman built the first experimental laser. The interpretation of the laser principles as self-organization of non equilibrium systems paved the way at the end of the 1960s to the development of synergetics, of which Haken is recognized as the founder.

Haken is the author of some 23 textbooks and monographs that cover an impressive number of topics from laser physics, atomic physics, quantum field theory, to synergetics. Although Haken's early books tend to be rather mathematical, at least one of his books LightH. Haken, Light: Waves, Photons, and Atoms (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1981). is nicely written, for the more general reader, and loaded with physical insights. One of his successful popular books is Erfolgsgeheimnis der Natur,H. Haken, Erfolgsgeheimnis der Natur (Ullstein, 1984). or in English, The Science of Structure: Synergetics.H. Haken, The Science of Structure: Synergetics, (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981) Haken also showed interest in Grey system theory.{{Cite journal |last=Haken |first=Hermann |author-link=Hermann Haken |date=2011-01-28 |title=Grey Information: Theory and Practical Applications |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/gs.2011.1.1.105.1/full/html |journal=Grey Systems: Theory and Application |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=105–106 |doi=10.1108/gs.2011.1.1.105.1 |issn=2043-9377}}

For his wide range of contributions, he received many international prizes or medals, including the Max Born Medal and Prize by the British Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society in 1976, Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 1981,{{cite web|url=http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=MICH+&sy=1967&ey=1997&name=Submit |title=Franklin Laureate Database – Albert A. Michelson Medal Laureates |publisher=Franklin Institute |access-date=16 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406103546/http://www.fi.edu/winners/show_results.faw?gs=&ln=&fn=&keyword=&subject=&award=MICH+&sy=1967&ey=1997&name=Submit |archive-date=6 April 2012 }} Great Order of the Federal Republic of Germany with star in 1986, Max Planck medal in 1990, Honda Prize 1992, Arthur-Burkhardt-Prize in 1993, Lorenz-Oken-Medal of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Medical Doctors in 1994, and Prize for the Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Medicine and Psychology, Danube University Krems, in 2005.

Haken died on 14 August 2024, at the age of 97.{{Cite web |title=Pionier der Lasertheorie gestorben |url=https://pro-physik.de/nachrichten/hermann-haken-pionier-der-lasertheorie-gestorben |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=pro-physik.de |language=de}}

References

External links

[https://www.f08.uni-stuttgart.de/organisation/team/Haken/ Homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425173052/https://www.f08.uni-stuttgart.de/organisation/team/Haken/ |date=25 April 2019 }}

Category:1927 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:20th-century German physicists

Category:German optical physicists

Category:German quantum physicists

Category:Probability theorists

Category:German science writers

Category:Scientists from Leipzig

Category:Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni

Category:University of Erlangen–Nuremberg alumni

Category:Academic staff of the University of Stuttgart

Category:German theoretical physicists