Hermann Haken
Institute for Theoretical Physics I, Center of Synergetics, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Featured Author: Hermann Haken (b. July 12, 1927) studied mathematics and physics at the universities Halle (1946-1948) and Erlangen (1948-1950), receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics (group theory) in 1951. He is professor emeritus and chair for theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart.
Hermann Haken has more than thirty awards and honorary degrees, including the Max Born Prize and Medal by the British Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (1976), Great Order of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star (1986), Max Planck Medal (1990), and Medal 2000: Outstanding People of the 20th Century (Cambridge, England). He is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Science, the German Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina, the Order "Pour le mérite", Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Academia Europaea (London), Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (Salzburg), Lorenz-Oken-Medal of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Medical Doctors, and multiple "synergetics" societies.
Hermann Haken's major contributions are in the field of laser physics and nonlinear optics, solid state physics, statistical physics, group theory, and bifurcation theory. However, he is most known as the father of synergetics - the science of self-organization.
Dr. Haken is the author of twenty textbooks and monographs on atomic and molecular physics, quantum field theory, solid state physics, principles of brain function, information theory, computing, and synergetics. He is the editor of Springer Series in Synergetics, volumes 1-84.
