Prof. Dr. Fabian Stroth

For more information on Fabian Stroth’s publications, please refer to his website.

Prof. Dr. Fabian Stroth is a member of the Project Group “GlassAge – A Transparent View of Ancient Innovation”

The project group investigates the historic and cultural context of one of humankind’s earliest high performance materials the importance of which has only grown with time: glass. Since the early developments in glass shaping, the history of this material has been closely linked to the cultural context. Interestingly, many of the artefacts of glass that survive from premodern contexts today still surpass the dominating methods of glass processing in the 21st century, and many of the effects found in historic specimens have a surprising actuality. As an example, optical metamaterials have been documented over a span of two millennia with current technology unable to replicate the craftsmanship required to make these object. GlassAge will explore the cultural and historic context of glass and the breakthrough developments which have, for various reasons, been largely ignored by modern developments in the material. 

Just as bionics takes nature as a model for material innovations, this project asks how the know-how of past cultures can inspire modern material developments. The project group envisions to provide inspiration for modern material systems which reach beyond the mere technological assessment, building on the rich history of material and material processing in its cultural context thus enabling a holistic retro- as well as a prospective vision for material systems in the 21st century.