The Department of Physics mourns the death of Professor Bernhard Spaan

On 9 December 2021, our esteemed colleague Professor Bernhard Spaan passed away. The news of his death came very suddenly and it hits us unprepared and hard.

Bernhard Spaan was a passionate university teacher and researcher. After studying physics and completing a doctorate at TU Dortmund University, he worked as a research assistant first at DESY, Hamburg, and later at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. From there, he accepted a professorship for experimental hadron physics at TU Dresden in 1996. He then returned to TU Dortmund in 2004 and has held a professorship for experimental particle physics ever since.

Bernhard Spaan was always helpful, always had an open ear and was popular with all colleagues, staff and students alike. He achieved a great deal in the Department of Physics, at TU Dortmund University and beyond - especially as a successful leader of a strong working group, in his office as dean and in the establishment and design of the medical physics degree programme. Since 2016, he has been a member of the TU Dortmund Senate. At the Swiss research centre CERN, Bernhard Spaan conducted research on the LHCb experiment for many years and had a lasting impact on German participation in the project. His research also extended beyond the boundaries of the Department of Physics, especially in the field of medical physics and the interaction of data science and physics.

We will miss Bernhard Spaan - as a colleague and as a person. Our thoughts are with his bereaved loved ones, especially his wife and children.