Heinz Oberhummer was an Austrian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

Biography

Heinz Oberhummer was born in

Bischofshofen Bischofshofen () is a town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. It is an important traffic junction located both on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line and at the Tauern Autobahn, a major highway route cr ...

and grew up in

Obertauern Obertauern is a tourist destination which is located in the Radstädter Tauern in the Salzburger Land of Austria. The winter sports resort is separated in two communities: Tweng and Untertauern. Geography Obertauern lies in the southeast o ...

, Austria. He studied physics at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

and the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. He lived in the village of Oberwölbling in the

Dunkelsteinerwald The Dunkelsteinerwald is a hill country south of the Danube in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria. It is located at the shore of the Danube between Melk and Mautern, south of Krems. The principal towns of the region are Bergern im Dunk ...

, Lower Austria. Heinz Oberhummer was married and had two children.

Research fields

Heinz Oberhummer was professor emeritus of

Theoretical Physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

at the Atominstitut of the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

. His main research area was

nucleosynthesis Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons (protons and neutrons) and nuclei. According to current theories, the first nuclei were formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, through nuclear reactions in ...

. He was also involved in questions concerning the fine-tuning of the Universe. Oberhummer, Csótó und Schlattl were able to derive quantifiable results concerning the fine-tuning of the Universe by investigating the creation of

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

and

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

in the

triple-alpha process The triple-alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions by which three helium-4 nuclei (alpha particles) are transformed into carbon. Triple-alpha process in stars Helium accumulates in the cores of stars as a result of the proton–pro ...

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

s. He was the initiator of "Nuclei in the Cosmos", the most important international conference series in the field of nuclear astrophysics taking place for the tenth time in the year 2008 at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in the United States. He was especially engaged in the popularisation of scientific contents, including the

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

. He developed Web-based learning and information systems and co-ordinated educational projects funded by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, such as Cinema and Science. He was also engaged in the creation and presentation of popular science with the ' in the Rabenhof Theater in Vienna along with

Werner Gruber Werner Gruber (born 15 March 1970, in Ostermiething) is an Austrian physicist, author, lecturer, and cabaret artist and is well known from ORF and as a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). Biography Gruber grew up in Ansfeld ...

and Martin Puntigam and as a weekly radio column and podcast in the Austrian youth radio station

FM4 FM4 is an Austrian national radio station operated by the ORF. Its main target is the youth audience, and much of the music output is characterised by an alternative rock and electronic music slant. Programmimg The programming of ''FM4'' is als ...

. He was member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the

Giordano Bruno Foundation The Giordano Bruno Foundation (german: Giordano-Bruno-Stiftung, abbreviated: gbs) is a Germany-based non-profit foundation under public law that promotes evolutionary humanism and the enlightenment. It was founded by entrepreneur Herbert Steffe ...

and the

Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften The Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) (English: ''Society for the Scientific Investigation of Pseudosciences'') is a non-profit organisation promoting scientific skepticism, headquartered in Roßdorf, ...

(GWUP), the German-speaking branch of the worldwide

skeptical movement Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. In practice, the term most commonly refe ...

. Furthermore, he was president of the "Gesellschaft für Kritisches Denken" (the Austrian branch of the GWUP), and of the Austrian "Zentralrat für Konfessionsfreie" (National Council of Non-confessionals. Heinz Oberhummer was president of the

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

initiative "Religion ist Privatsache" (Religion is a private matter). He died in Vienna on 23 November 2015.

Oberhummer Award

, awarded_for = Excellence in

science communication Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

, image = Oberhummer Award.svg , location =

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria , year = , reward = 20.000 euros , website = , network =

ORF 1 ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955. ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue and ...

, runtime = 1 hour, 37 minutes After Oberhummer's death, the ''Heinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication'' was established in his honor. The award is presented by the ', the

Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection In Austrian politics, the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (''Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz'') is the ministry in charge of welfare policy. The Ministry was fi ...

(the

Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research The Ministry of Education (German: ''Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung'', ''Bildungsministerium'', historically also ''Unterrichtsministerium'') is the government ministry of Austria in charge of public schools and acad ...

until 2019), the

Technical University of Vienna TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

, the

City of Vienna A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the

Austrian Broadcasting Corporation ('Austrian Broadcasting Corporation'; ORF) is an Austrian national public broadcaster. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Aus ...

. Oberhummer Award winners receive a glass of

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

droppings and 20.000 euros. The annual ceremony takes place in the in Vienna and is broadcast on national television.

Recipients

References

Selected publications

Kann das alles Zufall sein – Geheimnisvolles Universum?
Ecowin-Verlag, Salzburg, 2008, * H. Oberhummer: ''Urknall und Sternenstaub – Der Kosmos aus naturwissenschaftlicher Sicht'' In ''Die Idee vom Anfang'', Ritter Verlag, Klagenfurt, Wién, 2008, * H. Oberhummer: ''Maßarbeit oder Zufall – sind wir nicht anderes als Sternenstaub?'' In ''Der etwas andere Blick auf die Schöpfung'', Haag + Herrchen: Frankfurt, 2007, * H. Oberhummer (Editor): ''Nuclei in the Cosmos'', Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, 1991, * H. Oberhummer, A. Patkos, T. Rauscher: ''Origin of the Chemical Elements''. In: ''Handbook of Nuclear Chemistry'', Vol. 2, Kap. 1, Kluwer, 2003, * H. Oberhummer, A. Csótó, H. Schlattl: ''Stellar production rates of carbon and its abundance in the Universe''
Science 289, 2000, 88
* H. Oberhummer: ''Kerne und Sterne: Einführung in die Nukleare Astrophysik''. In German. Barth, Leipzig, Berlin, Heidelberg 1993,

External links

Articles of Heinz Oberhummer in arxiv.org

Kann das alles Zufall sein? – Geheimnisvolles Universum, Ecowin-Verlag, 2008; Award for "Best Popular Science Book in Austria 2009"

Science Busters

Cinema and Science (CISCI)

Neue Erkenntnisse zur Entstehung der Grundlagen für Leben
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberhummer, Heinz 1941 births 2015 deaths People from Bischofshofen Austrian physicists 20th-century Austrian astronomers Austrian skeptics Austrian male writers University of Graz alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of TU Wien 21st-century Austrian astronomers