News

With great sadness, the Cluster of Excellence Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) mourns the unexpected loss of Professor Thomas Geßner, who died on 25 May 2016.

With the death of Thomas Geßner, cfaed has lost one of its key principal investigators. Responsible for the coordination of the Cluster’s activities at its partner location Chemnitz from the very first idea throughout the first funding period, Thomas Geßner was a highly valued colleague as well as an appreciated friend cfaed relied on for constructive feedback and dedicated support. “We mourn the loss of a pioneer in the area of advancing microelectronics research, a great supporter of the advancement of the science location Saxony, and a role model for young scientists. It was a pleasure working with him.”, Prof. Fettweis (cfaed Coordinator) says. “Consolidating the microelectronics research activities of Dresden and Chemnitz by creating our Cluster, has proved as one of the most promising results of cfaed with the research done at TU Chemnitz as well as the Fraunhofer ENAS belonging today to the international key groups. He strongly supported the development of the science region of Saxony within Germany as well as the promotion internationally.”

Thomas Geßner was the director and founder of the Center for Microtechnologies (ZfM), Professor for Microtechnology at TU Chemnitz as well as the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS. He helped to shape the profile of TU Chemnitz during the mid-1990s not only in his role as Pro-Rector for Research but also as Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

Our deepest condolences to the family of Professor Thomas Geßner and his colleagues.