Nico Marquardt

Nico Marquardt was born in Potsdam, Germany as the son of Oberstleutnant (commissioned officer) Harald Broh and nurse Apolonia Marquardt and attended the Humboldt High School in Potsdam.[http://nicomarquardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Biografie.pdf Biography of Nico Marquardt (retrieved 27. October 2015)]

In April 2008, at the age of 13, he took part in the competition Jugend forscht with his research paper The Killer Asteroid 99942 Apophis, in which he calculated the probability for the asteroid Apophis to collide with a geosynchronous satellite and the consequences of this event to the likelihood of an Earth collision. On the day of the award Marquardt was interviewed by German newspaper Bild which published an article saying that Marquardt found a 100-times higher probability of an Earth-collision in the year 2036 than what NASA gave at the time.{{cite web |url=http://www.bild.de/regional/berlin/weltuntergang-ausgerechnet-4178182.bild.html |title=Ich habe den Weltuntergang ausgerechnet |date=3 April 2008 |publisher=Bild |access-date=2015-03-27}} Afterwards, nearly all international press reported the story of the boy who "corrected" NASA.{{cite web| title=Ragazzino calcola la fine del mondo| url=http://www.corriere.it/scienze/08_aprile_17/fine_mondo_calcolo_ragazzino_nasa_11d11136-0c45-11dd-aecb-00144f486ba6.shtml| publisher=Corriere della Sera| date=17 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=Niño alemán corrige cálculos a la NASA| url=http://www.cnnexpansion.com/economia-insolita/nino-aleman-corrige-calculos-a-la-nasa#| publisher=CNN| date=16 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=13-year-old corrects NASA's asteroid figures| url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-04/16/content_6620949.htm| publisher=China Daily| date=16 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=Un petit génie allemand met la NASA en échec| url=http://www.rtl.fr/actu/societe-faits-divers/un-petit-genie-allemand-met-la-nasa-en-echec-86494| publisher=RTL (French radio)| date=16 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=NASA says German whiz-kid got it wrong| url=http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/04/17/2219493.htm?site=science/footprintsonthemoon&topic=latest| publisher=ABC| date=17 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=Schoolboy corrects NASA 'killer asteroid' maths'| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/schoolboy-corrects-nasa-killer-asteroid-maths/2008/04/16/1208025230056.html| publisher=The Age| date=16 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}

The astronomer Fred Watson even said "Marquardt has done a marvellous job. A hundred years ago people used logarithms and hand-calculators and slide rules to work out asteroid orbits. But it says a lot for the world that we live in that a 13 year-old schoolboy can download the right software to do the job and actually find errors in NASA's work. It is quite extraordinary."{{cite web|date=17 April 2008|title=Prof. Fred Watson about Marquardt|url=http://www.itnews.com.au/news/schoolboy-corrects-nasa-on-asteroid-strike-108468#ixzz3r0PUYGud|accessdate=8 November 2015|publisher=itNews}}

NASA denied that its figure was wrong.{{cite web| title=NASA refutes story of boy who predicted asteroid collision| url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/nasa-refutes-story-of-boy-who-predicted-asteroid-collision-1.724724| publisher=Radio-Canada| date=16 April 2008|accessdate=8 November 2015}}

From 2013 to 2019 Marquardt acted as the Global Advisor for Social Media at Mars One.[http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one/advisers/nico-marquardt-germany Global Advisor Social Media Mars One (retrieved 27. October 2015)][https://future-shapers.live/nico-marquardt/ Global Advisor Mars One (retrieved 5. February 2024)] Since 2013 he is CEO of the consulting firm Rabbit.[https://future-shapers.live/nico-marquardt/ CEO Rabbit Consulting Group (retrieved 5. February 2024)] As of August 2014 Marquardt has been elected as non-executive director of the local energy and water service company EWP[http://www.spd-fraktion-potsdam.de/wir-ueber-uns/stadtverordnete/nico-marquardt.html Non-executive director energy company EWP (retrieved 27. October 2015)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109091816/http://www.spd-fraktion-potsdam.de/wir-ueber-uns/stadtverordnete/nico-marquardt.html |date=2015-11-09 }} and also as member of the supervisory board for the hospital Forst.[https://www.spd-potsdam.de/person/nico-marquardt/ Member of the supervisory board hospital Forst (retrieved 5. February 2024)] Marquardt co-hosts the podcast Exponential Talk, where he discusses the implications of digital transformation and accelerating change with personalities, including Nobel laureates such as Klaus Hasselmann.[https://www.exponentialtalk.com/ Podcast Exponential Talk (retrieved 5. February 2024)]

During his final year in high school, Marquardt ran for office in Potsdam as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party of Germany and won. This made Marquardt the youngest elected politician of any state capital in Germany.[http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/859773 Nico Marquardt ist jüngster Stadtverordneter, at PNN, 28. Mai 2015 (retrieved 27. October 2015)] In November 2015 Marquardt filed criminal charges against the far-right political party Der Dritte Weg (German for "The Third Path") in Germany on grounds of incitement to hatred.{{cite web| title=SPD-Stadtverordneter aus Potsdam zeigt rechtsextremem Parteivorsitzenden an| url=http://www.blickpunkt-brandenburg.de/nachrichten/potsdam/artikel/39418/Strafanzeige+wegen+Volksverhetzung| publisher=Blickpunkt| date=5 November 2015|accessdate=8 November 2015}}{{cite web| title=SPD-Mann zeigt Neonazis an| url=http://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Potsdam/SPD-Mann-zeigt-Neonazis-an| publisher=MAZ| date=5 November 2015|accessdate=8 November 2015}} In the 2019 elections, he was re-elected and has since served as the deputy chairman of the Committee of Participation, Transparency and Digitalisation and as a member of the Culture Committee.[https://egov.potsdam.de/public/kp020?KPLFDNR=596 Deputy Chairman Digital Committee (retrieved 5 February 2024)] Marquardt has been the chairman of the Digitalization Council of the state capital Potsdam since 2022.[https://www.potsdam.de/de/person/nico-marquardt Nico Marquardt ist seit 2022 Vorsitzender des Digitalisierungsrates der Landeshauptstadt Potsdam (retrieved 5. February 2024)]

Marquardt won the first prize at the German competition Jugend forscht, got the Special Honor from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Special Award of the German Aerospace Center.[http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/8925 Jugend forscht: Sonderpreis für Nico Marquardt, at PNN, 8. April 2008 (retrieved 27. October 2015)]

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.nicomarquardt.com/ Official Website]
• {{Twitter|id=nicomarquardt}}

Reports about Nico Marquardt

• {{citation|author=Guido Berg|periodical=Der Tagesspiegel|title=Nico und der Weltuntergang |date=12 April 2008|language=German|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/astronomie-nico-und-der-weltuntergang/1210000.html}}
• {{citation|author=Alok Jha|periodical=The Guardian|title=Full marks for effort |date=16 April 2008|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/apr/16/fullmarksforeffort}}
• {{citation|author=Christoph Seidler|periodical=Spiegel|title=Trubel um Asteroiden-Gefahr: Wie ein 13-jähriger fast die Nasa blamierte |date=17 April 2008|language=German|url=http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/trubel-um-asteroiden-gefahr-wie-ein-13-jaehriger-fast-die-nasa-blamierte-a-547965.html}}
• {{citation|author=Lewis Page|periodical=The-Register|title=Schoolboy's asteroid-strike sums are wrong |date=16 April 2008|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/16/esa_german_schoolboy_apophis_denial/}}
• {{citation|author=V. Kumara Swamy|periodical=The Telegraph India|title=The mother of all sciences |date=29 May 2008|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080529/jsp/careergraph/story_9332845.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607115223/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080529/jsp/careergraph/story_9332845.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 7, 2008}}
• {{citation|author=Jana Haase|periodical=Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung|title=16-jähriger Schüler forscht an "Verdrillung der Raumzeit" |date=21 October 2010|language=German|url=http://www.shortnews.de/id/856280/16-jaehriger-schueler-forscht-an-der-verdrillung-der-raumzeit}}
• {{citation|author=Jana Haase|periodical=Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung|title="Ich will nicht zum Mars fliegen" Nico Marquardt ist jüngster Stadtverordneter |date=28 May 2014|language=German|url=http://www.pnn.de/potsdam/859773/}}

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Category:1994 births

Category:Politicians from Potsdam

Category:Living people

Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians