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Dr. Horst Kunzmann appointed Member of the PTB's Presidential Board

15.07.1998

With effect from June 16, 1998, Dr. Horst Kunzmann, Director and Professor, has been appointed Member of the Presidential Board of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig and Berlin (PTB).

Dr. Kunzmann was born in Kassel on November 18, 1940. He studied at Hannover Technical University and concluded his studies in 1966 with a degree in engineering. In 1971, he was awarded a PhD in engineering (Dr.-Ing.).

In 1966, Dr. Kunzmann joined the PTB's 'Line Standards' section as a research worker. Among his tasks was the setting up of an interference comparator for the measurement of line standards by means of counting laser interferometry - a technology new at that time. He developed an economically efficient method for the wavelength stabilization of He-Ne gas lasers, for which a patent was granted and which is applied today in a modified form in practically all commercial laser interferometer light sources.

In 1973, Dr. Kunzmann became head of the department 'Industrial Metrology, Machine Elements'. In cooperation with his staff, he started to develop the fundamentals for the metrological back-up of computer-controlled coordinate measuring machines and their application in industry. It has been his special concern to achieve progress in the field of metrology at PTB by both the continuous improvement of the accuracies of measurement and the reduction of the measurement times. This has increased industry's interest in the measuring instruments and methods developed at PTB, also under aspects of economic efficiency.

After the foundation of the Deutscher Kalibrierdienst (German Calibration Service) in 1977 he took over the coordination of the PTB's work for the accreditation and regular inspection of calibration centers, among others for mechanical measurands and length measuring techniques. He remained responsible for these tasks until 1985.

In 1985, Dr. Kunzmann was appointed head of the newly established 'Precision Engineering' division. Special challenges during his time as head of this division were the integration of the large Industrial Metrology Section of the Amt für Standardisierung, Meßwesen und Warenprüfung (ASMW, Agency for standardization, metrology and commodities testing), the PTB's pendant in the former GDR, and the systematic extension of the PTB's measuring capacilities and facilities for the fields of micro- and nanotechnology.

Dr. Kunzmann is a scientist recognized and esteemed in national and international professional circles. His publications on technical subjects, which are always user-oriented, find wide resonance all over the world, which is reflected not least in the award of the Frederic W. Taylor Research Medal of the society of Mechanical Engineers (SME) in 1996. He is member of the International Institution for Production Engineering Research (CIRP), founder member of the Quality Assurance Research Association and of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (EuSPEN).