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Johann-Dietrich "Jan" Wörner (; born 18 July 1954) is a German civil engineer, university professor and former president of Technische Universität Darmstadt. He served as chairman of the executive board of the
German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...
DLR from 1 March 2007 to 30 June 2015. On 1 July 2015, he succeeded Jean-Jacques Dordain as
Director General of the European Space Agency The Director General of the European Space Agency is the highest-ranked official of the European Space Agency (ESA), a space agency formed by the collaboration of prominent European nations. ELDO Secretaries General ESRO Directors General ...
.


Education

Worner was born in
Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
. He studied civil engineering at Technische Universität Berlin and at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, now called
Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmsta ...
. He visited Japan in 1982 as part of a research stay on the subject of earthquake safety. In 1985, he did his doctorate on component–building interactions during earthquakes. Dr Johan-Dietrich Worner.


Career

Until 1990, Wörner worked for the engineering office König und Heunisch in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. In the same year, he was appointed professor for solid construction and head of the testing and research institute at TH Darmstadt. He founded his own engineering office Wörner und Partner in 1994. From 1992 to 1994, Wörner served as dean of the university's civil engineering department. Starting in 1993, he also held the office of technical director at the
Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...
institute for glass construction. Wörner was appointed a test engineer for
structural analysis Structural analysis is a branch of solid mechanics which uses simplified models for solids like bars, beams and shells for engineering decision making. Its main objective is to determine the effect of loads on physical structures and their c ...
and solid construction in 1994 and a professor of
structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...
in 1995. On 28 June 1995, Wörner was elected president by the assembly of what was then called the TH Darmstadt and lead the university from 24 July 1995 to 28 February 2007. Wörner was elected deputy speaker for Universities in the German Rectors' Conference in 2002. In 2003, he became speaker of ARGE TU/TH, the working group of universities and institutes of technology. In 2003 he joined the science council's ''Ranking'' working group and assumed the chair for structural analysis for superstructures at the university's architecture department as a provisional substitute. In 2004, he joined the science council's ''Universities'' working group. Between 2010 and 2011, Wörner served on the High-Level Group on Aviation and Aeronautics Research launched by European Commissioners
Siim Kallas Siim Kallas (; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian former politician, having served as Prime Minister of Estonia and European Commissioner. From 1972-90 Kallas was a member of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union). In 1987, Kallas was ...
and
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (; ; born 5 September 1950) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science from 2010 to 2014, ...
. In February 2011, the State Government of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...
appointed him to serve as a mediator for the controversial railroad infrastructure project Stuttgart 21, after he had already mediated talks concerning airport constructions in Frankfurt. On 18 December 2014, the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
announced that Wörner would assume the office of director general for four years on 1 July 2015. On 19 October 2016 Wörner claimed that the despite the crash at the attempted landing, the Schiaparelli mission was still a success from an engineering standpoint because of the data gathered. Not only was the parachute released early, but moreover the retrorockets fired for only 3s rather than the required 30s. The probe crashed into the surface at 300 km per hour, leaving a 40m wide impact site. In 2015, Wörner has proposed cooperation among countries and companies on lunar capabilities, a concept referred to as '' Moon Village''.


Other activities


Corporate boards

* Röhm GmbH, Member of the Supervisory Board


Non-profit organizations

* Director, ''Regionales Dialogforum Flughafen Frankfurt'' (since 2000) * ''Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' (since 2002) * ''Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina'', section technical sciences (since 2002, elected senator in 2006) * ''Conseil d'administration'',
École Centrale Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
(2000) and
École Centrale de Lyon The Centrale Lyon (), formerly (, abbr. ECL), is a research university in Grand Lyon, greater Lyon, France. Founded in 1857 by François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour in response to the increasing industrialization of France, it is one of the oldes ...
(2005) * ''Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften'' * Advisory board, '' Chinesisch-Deutsches Hochschulkolleg'',
Tongji University Tongji University is a public university located in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Tongji is one of the ...
* ''Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung'' * President, Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (2004) * ''Projektgruppe Energiepolitisches Programm'', German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs * Honorary member,
CLUSTER may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...
(2007) * Vice president, ''Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren'' (2007) * Deputy chairman, ESA Council (2007) * ''Technologie- und Innovationsrat des Landes Berlin'' (2008) * Editor, yearbook ''Beton-Kalender''


Awards and honors

* Honorary doctorates:
State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
(1998); Technical University of Moldova (1999);
Politehnica University of Bucharest Politehnica University of Bucharest () is a technical university in Bucharest, Romania founded in 1818.Saint Petersburg State University of Economics (2000);
École centrale de Lyon The Centrale Lyon (), formerly (, abbr. ECL), is a research university in Grand Lyon, greater Lyon, France. Founded in 1857 by François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour in response to the increasing industrialization of France, it is one of the oldes ...
(2003); Mongolian Technical University (2005) * ''Preis der Vereinigung von Freunden der Technischen Hochschule Darmstadt'' (2007) * ''Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Ehrung'' (2007) * ''Fraunhofer-Medaille'' (2007) * Officer's Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...
(2016)


Notes


References


Additional reading

* * * *


External links


Wörner's ESA blog

Wörner's DLR blog
*
Biography of Johann-Dietrich Wörner (ESA)
(English)
Biography of Johann-Dietrich Wörner (DLR)
(German)
Biography of Johann-Dietrich Wörner (TUD)
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Worner, Johann-Dietrich European Space Agency personnel 1954 births Living people Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Engineers from Kassel German civil engineers Technische Universität Berlin alumni Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt