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Heinz Siegfried Wolff, (29 April 1928 – 15 December 2017) was a German-born British scientist as well as a television and radio presenter. He was best known for the

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television series ''

The Great Egg Race ''The Great Egg Race'' was a BBC television series, that ran from 1979 to 1986 broadcast on BBC 2. Twenty-two episodes were produced and presented by six presenters over the life of the show. Programme ''The Great Egg Race'' was a BBC televisi ...

''.

Early life

Wolff was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. His father, Oswald Wolff, was a volunteer in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and a publisher specializing in German history. His mother, Margot Wolff (née Saalfeld) died "of an acute heart infection" in 1938. Father and son fled to the Netherlands in August 1939, and then arrived as

Jewish refugees This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ; ...

in Britain on 3 September 1939, on the same day that

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was declared by Britain and France; Wolff was 11. He was educated at the

City of Oxford High School for Boys The City of Oxford High School for Boys (a.k.a. Oxford High School for Boys and City of Oxford School) was founded in 1881 by Thomas Hill Green to provide Oxford boys with an education which would enable them to prepare for University. History ...

Career

Wolff worked in haematology at the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. History The initial proposals to build a hospital in Oxford were put forw ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

under

Robert Gwyn Macfarlane Robert Gwyn Macfarlane (26 June 1907 – 26 March 1987) was an English hematologist. Life Born in Worthing, Sussex, Gwyn Macfarlane left Cheltenham College in 1924 and a year later entered the Medical School of St Bartholomew's Hospital, L ...

, where he invented a machine for counting patients' blood cells, before joining the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit at

Llandough Hospital University Hospital Llandough ( cy, Ysbyty Llandochau Prifysgol) is a district general hospital in Llandough, Penarth, Wales. It is managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. History In the first decade the 20th century the Cardif ...

near

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. He went on to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL), where he gained a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

. Before going to UCL, he had been considered by

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, but was rejected twice because his understanding of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

was too weak. He spent much of his early career in

bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

, a term he coined in 1954 to take account of then recent advances in physiology. He became an honorary member of the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

in 1975, and in 1983 he founded the Brunel Institute for Bioengineering, which was involved in biological research during weightless spaceflight. Following retirement, he was

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor of bioengineering at Brunel University, working on a project aimed at addressing the care needs of older people. Wolff was the scientific director and co-founder of

Project Juno Project Juno was a privately funded campaign which selected Helen Sharman to be the first Briton in space. As the United Kingdom did not, at that time, have a human spaceflight programme (until the UK joined the human spaceflight elements of E ...

, the private British-Soviet joint venture which sent

Helen Sharman Helen Patricia Sharman, CMG, OBE, HonFRSC (born 30 May 1963) is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit ...

to the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station. He is credited with the invention of the gel pad

electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials de ...

s used in ECGs.

Popular science

A familiar face in the 1970s and early 1980s, well known to British television audiences with his memorable

bow tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that th ...

and pronounced German accent, his best remembered programme is probably ''

''. He was also the presenter of ''Great Experiments'', and presenter/judge of the annual ''

Young Scientists of the Year ''Young Scientists of the Year'' was a BBC1 television series which ran from 1966 to 1981. History 1960s The series first aired on Thursday 7 July 1966 on BBC1 at 18:30 and was called ''Science Fair '66''. It was thirty minutes and the first f ...

'' series. In 1985 he was a contestant on ''

The Adventure Game ''The Adventure Game'' is a game show that was originally broadcast on British television, UK television channels BBC One, BBC1 and BBC Two, BBC2 between 24 May 1980 and 18 February 1986. The story in each show was that the two celebrity conte ...

''. In 1998 Professor Wolff was one of the first people to be interviewed by

Ali G Alistair Leslie Graham, better known as Ali G, is a satirical fictional character created and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. A faux-streetwise poseur from Staines, Ali G speaks in rude boy-style Multicultural London English a ...

, during that character's initial appearances on ''

The 11 O'Clock Show ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' is a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4 which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee a ...

'', where the discussion ranged from elementary particles to penis enlargement. Also in 1989 he appeared on '' After Dark'' with, among others, astronaut

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

. In 2007 Wolff made a guest appearance on Channel 4's ''

Comedy Lab ''Comedy Lab'' is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998. Several pilots first shown on ''Comedy Lab'' have gone on to spawn full serie ...

'' episode "

Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...

: Satisfied Fool", where he is seen explaining to Pilkington the sudden rise of intelligence in ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

''. In March 2009, he appeared in the puzzle video game '' Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity''.

Lectures

In 1975 he delivered the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...

on ''Signals from the Interior''. In 2005 he presented the

Higginson Lecture The Higginson Lecture is an annual lecture organised by and held at Durham University. The series was set up in recognition of Sir Gordon Higginson. Each year a leading engineer is selected to make a presentation, from their own perspective, on a ...

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

Personal life

In 1953, he married Joan Stephenson, a staff nurse originally from

, whom he met at work. They lived in north London. Widowed in October 2014, he died from heart failure on 15 December 2017. He is survived by his two sons, Anthony and Laurence.

References

External links

* *
Official 'Heinz Wolff Gravity' game site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Heinz 1928 births 2017 deaths Academics of Brunel University London Alumni of University College London British bioengineers British physiologists British television personalities Fellows of the Institution of Electrical Engineers Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Scientists from Berlin People educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys Jewish scientists Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism English people of German-Jewish descent