Franz Pischinger Receives Aachen Engineering Award

Born in Austria, Franz Pischinger was appointed to the RWTH Aachen in 1970 as Professor of Applied Thermodynamics and Head of the Institute for Thermodynamics. In 1978 he founded FEV GmbH, today a global company with more than 4,000 employees, with headquarters in Aachen.

Mayor Marcel Philipp emphasized the outstanding role of local science: “Universities are the most important institutions in our city. The Aachen Engineering Award is a living example of our good cooperation - we want the best minds to come to us. Professor Pischinger's lifetime achievement is admirable.”For Professor Ernst Schmachtenberg, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, the role model function of the excellent personality is very special. He also explained about the idea of the Aachen Engineering Award: "Technology permeates our world - this award is intended to honor the lifetime achievement of engineers."

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Laudator Professor Hermann Scholl

Laudator Professor Hermann Scholl, Honorary Chairman of the Bosch Group, looked at the life's work of Austrian-born Pischinger. As a committed university lecturer, the award winner supervised more than 200 doctoral degrees and imparted his knowledge of combustion engines to thousands of students. It is thanks to Franz Pischinger that the internal combustion engine has its excellent technical status today. In the various professional positions - as an employee of AVL in Graz, of Klöckner Humboldt Deutz in Cologne and then as head of the RWTH Institute for Thermodynamics - Pischinger had done significant development work. It is also the achievement of the award winner that today every second new car in Europe is a low-consumption diesel, said laudator Scholl."Otherwise we could not even come close to meeting the ambitious climate protection goals in Europe."

Pischinger later used his practical experience for RWTH Aachen. The combination of research and practice finally gave rise to the desire to apply his ideas and findings in his own company and to develop internal combustion engines for the automotive industry. Pischinger: "Don't forget your training!"

The award winner Franz Pischinger described the Aachen engineering award as a great honor and recognition. Even as a child, he was passionate about technology, the radio or the light. This passion had accompanied him throughout his life in many professional positions as a scientist, university lecturer and entrepreneur. “I can't tell anyone today: do it the way I do. I can at best give the advice not to forget the further education, the lifelong learning. “Nobody should be afraid of the specialization either,“but one has to be careful not to become a specialist idiot”.

Engines

Franz Pischinger receives Aachen Engineering Award 2015

RWTH Aachen University and the City of Aachen have jointly launched the engineering award. They are supported by the Sparkasse Aachen as the main sponsor and the Association of German Engineers. Its president, Professor Udo Ungeheuer, studied with Professor Franz Pischinger. In his speech, Ungeheuer bowed to Pischinger's scientific and entrepreneurial achievements, which he described as a great personality and role model. The engineering prize would put outstanding earnings in the spotlight. Above all, this should raise awareness among young people of what engineering education can do for society.

This is precisely why the awarding of the engineering prize and the graduate festival in the Aachen dressage stadium belong together and take place on two consecutive days. The award winner speaks for RWTH graduates from all faculties at the big festival and will bring his life's work to the around 5,000 listeners there. (Jup)