Berthold Leibinger (26 November 1930 – 16 October 2018) was a German mechanical engineer, businessman, and philanthropist. He was the head of the German company

Trumpf The TRUMPF Group is a German industrial machine manufacturing company. It is a family-owned company with its head office in Ditzingen near Stuttgart. TRUMPF is one of the world's biggest providers of machine tools. With more than 70 operative su ...

, a leader in laser technology, and founder of the non-profit foundation

Berthold Leibinger Stiftung The German foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung was founded in 1992 by the engineer, entrepreneur and patron Berthold Leibinger in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, Germany. The non-profit foundation is dedicated to cultural, scientific, church related an ...

. He served on the advisory board of major companies and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...

Life

Born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Berthold Leibinger grew up in Korntal with two siblings. He graduated with ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' at the Ulrich-von-Hutten Gymnasium in Korntal in 1950. He started an apprenticeship as a mechanic at

and then studied mechanical engineering at the Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences. After graduating with a ''

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus ...

'', he became a development engineer in 1958 at Cincinnati Milling Machines (today

Milacron Milacron is an American limited liability company that manufactures and distributes plastic processing equipment for fields such as injection molding and extrusion molding. Milacron is one of many operating companies that make up Hillenbrand, I ...

) in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. In 1961 he returned to Germany and to Trumpf as head of the engineering division. In 1968 he developed the first contour nibbling machine tool with

numerical control Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a pi ...

. The owner of the company, Christian Trumpf, having no children, named Leibinger as his successor. Leibinger successively took over shares of the company and served as technical director from 1966. He was managing director and partner from 1978. On 18 November 2005, he retired from management and served as chairman of the supervisory board of the Trumpf Group until the end of 2012. On 16 October 2018, he died in Stuttgart at the age of 87.

Entrepreneurial and engineering achievements

Under the management of Leibinger, Trumpf became one of the world's largest manufacturers of machine tools, in particular due to the consequent combination of mechanics and electronics. Trumpf is also one of the largest manufacturers of industrial

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

technology and machines for

laser cutting Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to vaporize materials, resulting in a cut edge. While typically used for industrial manufacturing applications, it is now used by schools, small businesses, architecture, and hobbyists. Laser cutt ...

. Leibinger was appointed to several important political and economical positions. From 1985 to 1990 he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the

Stuttgart Region Stuttgart Region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is an urban agglomeration at the heart of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. It consists of the city of Stuttgart and the surrounding districts of Ludwigsburg, Esslingen, Böblingen, Rems-Murr and ...

and from 1989 to 1992 he served as president of the German Association of Machinery Manufacturers

VDMA The VDMA (Mechanical Engineering Industry Association) represents about 3,500 German and European companies of the mechanical engineering industry. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized businesses. The companies ...

. He was a member of the supervisory boards of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

and BMW, among other companies. From 1999 to 2003 he was chairman of the supervisory board of the chemical company

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

. He was also president of the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1990 to 1992. He served in the senate of the University of Stuttgart starting in 2000.

Philanthropy

Leibinger was a philanthropist with long lasting involvement in German culture. He was personally involved as chairman of the board of the and the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in

Marbach am Neckar Marbach am Neckar is a town about 20 kilometres north of Stuttgart. It belongs to the district of Ludwigsburg, the Stuttgart region and the European metropolitan region of Stuttgart. Marbach is known as the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller, to w ...

. In 1992 Leibinger founded the non-profit foundation

. It is dedicated to cultural, scientific, religious and social issues. Since 2000, it has awarded the internationally respected

Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis __NOTOC__ The Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis is an award for given to those who have created applied laser technology and innovations on the application or generation of laser light. It is open to participants worldwide. It is biennially awar ...

and, since 2006, the

Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis {{single source, date=February 2020 The Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis (engl.: future prize) is an international award for excellent research on the application or generation of laser light. Since 2006 it is biennially awarded by the German non-pr ...

, an innovation prize for applied

technology.

Awards

In July 1990, in a motion brought forward by the Faculty of Engineering and Manufacturing Technology, he was awarded an honorary PhD degree of the

. In January 1996, the Minister President of the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

conferred upon him the honorary title of Professor. The

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

awarded him their Prize for Social Market Economy in November 2003. In October 2006, the president of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded him the Knight Commander's Cross (Badge and Star) of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(Bundesverdienstkreuz). In December 2006, the Werner-von-Siemens-Ring Stiftung awarded him Germany's most important technology award, the

Werner von Siemens Ring The Werner von Siemens Ring (in German orthography, Werner-von-Siemens-Ring) is one of the highest awards for technical sciences in Germany. It has been awarded from 1916 to 1941 and since 1952 about every three years by the foundation ''Stiftung ...

. In November 2007 the ociety of Social Market Economyawarded him the Alexander-Rüstow-Plakette. In June 2008 he was awarded the , and in 2011 the Arthur L. Schawlow Award from the

Laser Institute of America LIA - The Laser Institute (formerly Laser Industry Association, later Laser Institute of America, commonly referred to as LIA) is an international professional society with a focus on laser applications and laser safety. LIA was founded on Febr ...

. He received the Preis für Verständigung und Toleranz of the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Muse ...

, Berlin, in 2013, and the in 2014. He was awarded the Japanese

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

in 2016.

Publications

His publications, including an autobiography and a dissertation, are held by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

: * ''Wer wollte eine andere Zeit als diese. Ein Lebensbericht''. Murmann Verlag, Hamburg 2010, . * ''Erfahrungen, Erfolge, Entwicklungen – Der Weg der Werkzeugmaschinenindustrien in Deutschland, Japan und den USA''. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2014, .

References

External links

Berthold Leibinger Stiftung

TRUMPF GmbH + Co KG
* Carter Dogherty

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' 11 July 2009 * Klaus Köster
Berthold Leibinger / Stuttgarter Trumpf-Seniorchef ist tot
Stuttgarter Nachrichten 16 October 2018

stiftungen.org * Bettina Wieselmann: ttps://www.swp.de/wirtschaft/news/trumpf-seniorchef-leibinger-_84_-im-gespraech-ueber-seine-spaete-promotion-21983289.html Trumpf-Seniorchef Leibinger (84) im Gespräch über seine späte Promotion(interview) Südwest Presse 5 December 2014
Vom Lehrling zum Welt-Unternehmer – Der einzigartige Lebensbericht des Berthold Leibinger
p-felixberger.de 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leibinger, Berthold 1930 births 2018 deaths BASF people German chief executives German company founders 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople German mechanical engineers German nonprofit businesspeople German patrons of the arts German philanthropists Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Businesspeople from Stuttgart People from the Free People's State of Württemberg Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Werner von Siemens Ring laureates Engineers from Stuttgart