Deutsch
English
The origins
The Clausthal University of Technology developed via the Mining School (from 1811) and the Mining Academy (from 1864) from special advanced courses for miners established at the Clausthal Latin School in 1775.
As early as 1725, the statements of Pastor H. Calvör, Rector of the Latin School, clearly indicate how important the teaching of important basic subjects, mathematics and mechanics, has always been:
"According to my small and little judgment, the ... ... would be more likely to be achieved if, in particular, a mathematical school were set up in which the most capable and brightest minds of those who want to become miners and carpenters could spend a few hours a week ... in the principles of geometry, trigonometry, statics and mechanics, also aerostatics, hydrostatics and hydraulics, as sciences in which the laws of physics and nature are applied by mathematics, in all of which arithmetic is a prerequisite ...".
Thus, in the "early days" of the school, seemingly picturesque figures such as a pastor, an ironworks registrar, a market shepherd, an ironworks clerk, a builder's assistant ... worked in these two subjects.
Later, at the time of the United Mining Academy and Mining School - the splitting of the Mining School into two "classes" had taken place and full-time teachers were employed for the first time - mechanics was taught for a long time together with (mining) machine theory (or mechanical engineering) and physics by one teacher, most recently for 43 (forty-three!) years under Prof. Oskar Hoppe, until mechanics was taken over by the representative of mathematics, Prof. Rothe, when he retired in 1911 at the age of 73.
This personnel union - which can be described as fortunate for a technical university - was to last until 1961.
Rothe was followed by Mohrmann and v. Sanden, then König from 1922, who initially headed the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics until 1939.
During the war and early post-war period, substitutes were improvised by colleagues from outside the field (geophysicist Jung, mine surveyor Rellensmann) until Prof. Mettler took over in 1948. He was replaced by Prof. König in 1953.
Development in more recent times
The personal union of "Mathematics" and "Mechanics" (since 1911) ended in 1961 with the retirement of Prof. König.
König had rendered outstanding services, among other things, by building the ski hut of the Bergakademie on the Brocken under his rectorship (1922-1931). In line with his inclinations as a ballistician and sportsman, he constructed the Olympic ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well as the Harz ski jumps in Altenau and Braunlage.
| 1962 | The Institute and Chair of "Technical Mechanics" are established and a new chapter begins with the appointment of Prof. Manfred Schäfer. The Institute is housed in the former Institute of Markscheidekunde (former deacon's convent). Schäfer dealt with numerous topics in applied mechanics; issues from his 'traditional' field, gas dynamics, were spatial transient gas flows, non-linear one-dimensional acoustics and the pressure effect of detonation waves on buildings. He also developed a refined bending theory of elastic plates. |
| 1971 | The private lecturer Dr. Dietrich Behr becomes a "scientific advisor and professor", and in 1978 is promoted to professor in accordance with the new NHG.
|
| 1974 | The private lecturer Dr. Bernhard Zimmermann becomes "Associate Professor"; in 1978 he is appointed professor in accordance with the new NHG.
|
| 1981 | Prof. Michael Jischa is appointed as the successor to Prof. Manfred Schäfer, after the latter had headed the institute for over a year as emeritus professor. Jischa's areas of work are boundary layer theory, turbulent flows, turbulent heat and mass transfer and multiphase flows. |
| 1984 | Further rooms are occupied in the main building. In addition to office space, three laboratories are added in line with the Institute's growing experimental focus: vibration technology, fluid mechanics and strength analysis and materials mechanics. In the meantime, the institution of the "Ordinarius" has been abolished by the Higher Education Act; the Institute is managed by a three-member board, from which a "Managing Director" is elected for two years at a time. |
| 1991 | Prof. Jischa develops new lectures on the topic of "Society and Technology" and establishes the research area "Technology Assessment" in Clausthal. |
| 1993 | The private lecturer Dr. Werner Hufenbach becomes an "Associate Professor". He works primarily in the field of materials mechanics, with fibre-reinforced composites taking up a considerable amount of space. Also in 1993, he accepts an appointment at the TU Dresden at the Institute for Lightweight Construction and Plastics Technology. |
| 2000 | Prof. Bernhard Zimmermann retires. |
| 2002 | Prof. Dietrich Behr retires. Prof. Jischa becomes emeritus. The Institute is restructured as part of new appointments: in future it will only have two professorships, the Professorship of Solid Mechanics and the Professorship of Fluid Mechanics. |
| 2003 | Prof. Gunther Brenner is appointed to the Chair of Fluid Mechanics and becomes Head of the Institute. |
| 2005 | Jens Strackeljan follows an appointment to the University of Magdeburg, the field of solid mechanics is taken over by Jun. Prof. Sabine Langer from Braunschweig. At the same time, the building at Graupenstrasse 3 is vacated and new rooms are occupied in the north wing of the university's main building. By modernizing the offices and taking over the workshop, which had previously belonged to the Institute of Mineralogy, the Institute now has good spatial and technical facilities again. |
| 2008 | After a long vacancy in the professorship for solid mechanics, Prof. Stefan Hartmann accepts the call to Clausthal University of Technology. His research focuses on the experimental investigation of materials, material modeling and material parameter identification. He also specializes in the research field of computational mechanics. |
| 2013 | Dr.-Ing. Stefanie Retka is appointed junior professor in the field of "Computational Dynamics". |
| 2017 | Prof. Stefanie Retka leaves the institute and moves to the University of Applied Sciences in Schweinfurt |
| 2017 | Dr. rer. nat. Nina Gunkelmann, based at the Simulation Science Center Clausthal/Göttingen, is appointed junior professor in the field of "Computational Material Sciences/Engineering" |
| 2022 | There is a name change from Prof. Nina Gunkelmann to Prof. Nina Merkert. |
20 | Frau Prof. Nina Merkert erhält einen neue Heimat am Institut für Metallurgie und verlässt das Institut für Technische Mechanik |