Prof. Dr. Norbert Schmitz

Honorary Professor at TUM since 1973

Field

Elementary Particle Physics

Career

The field of research of Professor Schmitz (b. 1933) is the physics of elementary particles. He was actively involved in experiments which were carried out by international collaborations at the large particle accelerators in Europe (CERN, DESY) and the USA (Berkeley, Fermilab, Brookhaven). His responsibilities included the physics evaluation of data which were collected by tracking detectors (nuclear emulsions, bubble chambers, streamer chambers, and time projection chambers).
After studying physics at Göttingen University and a research stay at Berkeley (USA), Professor Schmitz obtained his PhD in 1961 from LMU Munich. From 1961 to 1969 he was a member of the research staff at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich. In 1965 he acquired his postdoctoral teaching qualification (habilitation) at TUM. Thereafter, until 2000, he held regular lectures in the Physics Department at TUM about various topics relating to particle physics. In 1969 he became a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Physics (Werner Heisenberg Institute) and became a director at the institute in 1971. He retired in 2001.

    Functions

      • Director at the MPI for Physics and Astrophysics (1971-1991), later at the MPI for Physics (1991-2001)
      • Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute (since 1969)
      • Visiting Scientist at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva (1967/68)
      • Postdoctoral teaching qualification (habilitation) (1965) and lecturer (1965-1971) at TUM