Scientific VITA

Born on November 29, 1928 in Munich

Died on February, 24 2023

Studied experimantal physics at the University of Munich, graduating in 1954

Doctorate under Prof. Dr. W. Gerlach in May 1955

Industrial activity

Adolf Goetzberger dedicated the first 25 years of his professional life to semiconductor technology and electrical components. From 1955 to 1958, Adolf Goetzberger was a research assistant in semiconductor development at Siemens in Munich. In the pioneering days of microelectronics, he worked at the top addresses in US research: from 1958 to 1963, first in Palo Alto with William B. Schockley, the Nobel Prize winner and co-inventor of the transistor, and then for five years at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill. There he headed the "Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor" division.

Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF

In 1969, Adolf Goetzberger took over the management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF (until 1978 IaFP), which he reoriented. His goals: To build a bridge between basic research and application, to focus on civil research projects, to strengthen the scientific quality of work in the field of solid-state and semiconductor research and to draw new lines of research, e.g. silicon impurities and III-V semiconductors. In addition to work in the field of MOS, Adolf Goetzberger was involved in the interaction of ion implantation with interfaces.

Under his leadership, Fraunhofer IAF developed into one of the world's leading institutes for compound semiconductors in the 1970s, with employees winning numerous prestigious national and international scientific awards.

In 1971, the University of Freiburg appointed him Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Physics.

At the end of the 1970s, Adolf Goetzberger decided to dedicate his life to solar energy. At the time, this was a visionary step, which Adolf Goetzberger pushed through with great persistence and strength, even in the face of extreme political resistance. At the beginning of solar research, he and his first employees had technical visions such as the fluorescence collector, highly efficient silicon solar cells for mass production and later transparent thermal insulation and thermal storage collectors. In 1977, he and his IAF colleagues succeeded in developing the fluorescence-activated display. The first Fraunhofer Prize was awarded for the in 1978.

In the "Fluko" project, supported by the "Solar Energy Technologies" funding program, fluorescent solar collecotrs were developed and it was demonstrated that solar energy can be used economically on the basis of this technology. Transparent plastic sheets were coated with long-lasting dyes to capture the diffuse radiation component of sunlight and concentrate it on solar cells made of compound semiconductors. In October 1980, he founded a "Temporary Scientific Working Group for Solar Energy Systemes" at Fraunhofer IAF.

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

In July 1981, Adolf Goetzberger leaves the IAF with 20 employees and founds the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. It is the first non-university solar research institute in Europe. 

From the very beginning, Adolf Goetzberger thought systematically, not limiting his research to one technology, but focusing on the entire energy system with all sectors. In lectures and publications, he was already at that time urgently pointing out the importance of solar energy for the energy supply of mankind. At the beginning of the 1980s, Adolf Goetzberger's professional qualifications gave new impetus to solar energy research, which was still often ridiculed, and he became an outstanding expert whose judgment was also accorded great importance in political circles. The concrete applicability of the technologies and their marketability were always at the center of his research. A "conservative" technology decision is exemplary for these objectives: In the case of solar cells, Fraunhofer ISE concentrated from the very beginning on silicon technology, which has proven itself in the field of semiconductor elements; environmental compatibility of the material, availability of raw materials and the knowledge potential of microelectronics made the crystalline silicon solar cell the dominant photovoltaic energy converter on the market over the years. The foundation stone for the evolutionary further development of this field of technology towards the crystalline silicon thinfilm cell and the thin film silicon solar cell was laid at Fraunhofer ISE under the direction of Adolf Goetzberger. 

Another development of the institute was the transparent thermal insulation of building facades; Adolf Goetzberger made his home available for the first experiments. His incessant reminders were necessary fo the further promotion of solar thermal research in Germany. With the "Goetzberger cube", he laid the foundation for the storage collector with transparent thermal insulation.

As early as 1981, Adolf Goetzberger and Armin Zastrow, a doctoral student at the time, had the idea of combining solar systems with agricultural use. What he and Zastrow described back then as "potatoes under the collector" was taken up again in 2015 at Fraunhofer ISE in a publicly funded research project and has since been widely used worldwide as "Agri-Photovoltaik" on arable land and in fruit and wine growing.

The first German house in photovoltaic stand-alone operation - the Rappenecker Hof in the Black Forest - was realized by Fraunhofer ISE in 1987. In 1992, the first energy self-sufficient solar house in Germany was inaugurated, based on an initiative by Adolf Goetzberger. This pioneering project, based on consistent solar building technology, energy-efficient consumers, thermal storage collectors, photovoltaic power generation and seasonal hydrogen energy storage, provided convincing proof of the technical system availability of solar energy conversion and storage technologies. The project, which was visionary in its design and concrete in its emplementation, was admired and recognized worldwide. The system demonstrated that solar energy self-sufficiency was already feasible in the early 1990s. The technologies used are still considered groundbreaking today. Fraunhofer ISE also celebrated successes in the field of power electronics under Adolf Goetzberger. For example, the first inverter on a purely electronic basis with low power consumption and groundbreaking efficiency was developed at the institute. 

When Adolf Goetzberger retired in 1993, Fraunhofer ISE was the second largest solar research institute after the American NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado) in the field of low-temperature solar thermal energy, photovoltaics, power electronics, storage and hydrogen technologies. 

Other fields of activity

Adolf Goetzberger's activities for solar energy beyond Fraunhofer ISE are numerous:

• As a member of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), he was involved in the successful international "Solar World Congresses". From 1986 - 1989 he was Chairman of the German section, from 1991 - 1993 President of the entire association.
• On October 30, 1993, Adolf Goetzberger was elected President of the German Society for Solar Energy (DGS). In this capacity, he took part in the Energy Consensus Talks in 1995.
• He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forum for Future Issues and Eurosolar, a member of the German Physical Society (DPG), the Electrochemical Society, the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the VDE.
• Adolf Goetzberger was instrumental in organizing the international photovoltaic conference of the European Community. He was General Chairman of the conference in Seville and host in Freiburg in 1989.
• As co-founder of the symposia on photovoltaics and solar thermal energy ot the East Bavarian Technology Transfer Institute (OTTI), he was honorary chairman of the scientific committee.. 
• As part of this work as an honorary professor of physics at the University of Freiburg, Adolf Goetzberger has awarded and supervised numerous diploma theses and doctoral dissertations. 
• His cooperation and judgment were highly valued in many expert committees, boards of trustees, commissions, working groups, etc. Numerous patent specifications in various areas of solar energy utilization document his scientific creativity. 
• In 1994, togehter with Thomas Nordmann, he founded the German subsidiary of the Swiss company TNC Energieconsulting, which dealt with the integration of PV generators in noise barriers.

Further information on the life of Adolf Goetzberger:

Goetzberger, Adolf (2020), "Mein Leben, Ein Leben für die Sonne und wie es dazu kam". Herausgeber: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sonnenenergie (DGS), Landesverband Franken e.V., www.dgs-franken.de, ISBN: 978-3-933634-47-4