Prof. Dr. Wolfgang M. Heckl

Academic Career and Research Areas

The department of Professor Heckl is concerned with teacher training and continuing teacher education in the subjects of mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and technology. He also runs the Open Research Laboratory for Scientific Communication in the Deutsches Museum. Furthermore, Professor Heckl is a staff member of the Physics Department where he conducts research on molecular self-organisation in the area of nanotechnology.

After studying physics and receiving a doctorate from TUM (1988), Professor Heckl worked at IBM Research as a postdoctoral researcher. He subsequently acquired his postdoctoral teaching qualification (habilitation) while working with Professor T. Hänsch (1991 – 93) and was professor of experimental physics at LMU Munich (1993 – 1999). Professor Heckl was appointed general director of the Deutsches Museum in 2004. He has been chairman of the Steering Committee of the European Science Open Forum (ESOF) since 2006 and Oskar von Miller Professor at TUM since 2009.

Awards

• Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany (2008)
• County Medal of the County of Neumarkt (2008)
• Descartes Prize for Science Communication of the European Union by the European Commission (2004)
• Communicator Prize of the Stifterverband für die Wissenschaft (2002)
• Philip Morris Research Prize (1993)