Peter Gumbsch

2007 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winner

Prof. Dr. Peter Gumbsch works in the field of materials science, at the intersection between physics and engineering. In addition to his research on deformation in thin films, he has focused particularly on the dynamics of deformation processes and the dislocations underlying deformation (irregularities in the lattice structure of solid materials) at high velocities.

In a similar manner, Peter Gumbsch has analyzed the elementary mechanisms of fracture. Using atomistic investigations and the first serious quantum-mechanical calculations of brittle fracture behavior, he expanded the thermodynamic model that had been the texbook standard with important insights into the breaking of atomic bonds. His research has been instrumental in the development of multiscale meterials modeling, a cutting-edge discipline that aims to describe materials across scales, from individual atoms to crystals to complete workpieces.

After completing his doctorate in physics at the University of Stuttgart, Peter Gumbsch went to Oxford in 1991 as a visiting scientist, before returning to Stuttgart to work at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research. In 2000 and 2001 he was offered chairs at the Braunschweig University of Technology and Ohio State University, both of which he declined in favor of a full professorship in Karlsruhe. He is currently tenured professor for mechanics of materials and head of the Institute for Reliability of Components and Systems at the University of Karlsruhe as well as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM) in Freiburg and Halle. (Source: DFG)