Special Friday Symposium on the occasion of the 95th birthday of Director Emeritus Jan Peter Toennies
To the point
- In honor of former Max Planck Director Jan Peter Toennies, alumni and scientific colleagues held a symposium at the end of May to celebrate his 95th birthday
- Jan Peter Toennies has been closely associated with the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) for over 55 years
- The participants thanked their former teacher and mentor for the important time of their scientific career path and were delighted to see him again
Reunions of Jan Peter Toennies' Scientific Family and Friends have been a tradition for over 30 years. This year, on May 30, more than 60 alumni and scientific colleagues met for the first time at the MPI-DS on Faßberg in Göttingen instead of at the former institute campus in Bunsenstraße. The “Special Friday Symposium” is a tribute to the weekly seminars of the Toennies working group, which took place on Friday afternoons starting at 4 p.m., as well as to the annual doctoral seminars at Kloster Hardehausen.
The large number of participants as well as contributions to the guest book, including from those who were unable to attend, are an expression of the close relationship and high respect the students have for their former professor. Their time in Jan Peter Toennies' working group was very inspirational for them, leading them to gladly travel the sometimes long journey back to Göttingen again and again. The event was opened by Eberhard Bodenschatz, Managing Director of the MPI-DS. He paid tribute to Jan Peter Toennies as a scientist and personality and emphasized his special significance for the development of the institute: “I got to know him as a passionate scientist, a curious researcher, and someone who was always looking for and creating new ideas: together with his colleagues, he realigned the institute at that time, opening up new research topics such as molecular beams and helium clusters, and he also played a key role in the institute's recent reorientation toward nonlinear dynamics.” Bodenschatz then gave the guests a tour of the institute's new building, which was constructed in 2011 on Faßberg Göttingen.
In the further course of the symposium, Gregor Witte (Philipps University of Marburg), Bernd von Issendorff (University of Freiburg), and Udo Buck (University of Göttingen) reported on their research and the history of the institute. The honoree himself also gave a personal retrospective entitled “What I am happy about and what I am grateful for.” Here, he movingly summarized what made his working group special and what were the key reasons for its success. Jan Peter Toennies was very delighted with the event: “It was a very nice, harmonious, and successful celebration. I was very happy to see many former colleagues again and to talk to them,” he said. He thanked the organizers Stephan Schlemmer, Ralf Fröchtenicht, and Bretislav Friedrich for making the symposium possible. The day was rounded off with a dinner together in Göttingen's old town.
About Jan Peter Toennies
Jan Peter Toennies shaped the research and development of the MPI-DS for many decades. He became director of the institute, which was then called the “Max Planck Institute for Fluid Dynamics,” in 1969. Since his retirement in 1998, Jan Peter Toennies has remained closely associated with the institute to this day. He accompanied the institute's reorientation toward nonlinear dynamics. In 2004, this led to the renaming of the institute to “MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization” to reflect its research into nonlinear and complex systems. Toennies continues to publish scientific papers in international scientific journals.