The solar pioneer and founder of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Prof. Dr. Adolf Goetzberger, passed away on February 24, 2023 at the age of 94. Against great resistance, the then director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF succeeded in spinning off a working group for solar energy systems into an independent institute in 1981. In the same year, the physicist developed, among other things, the idea of agrivoltaics, which was now experiencing its breakthrough in Germany. He contributed his visionary work to numerous expert committees, boards of trustees, commissions and working groups and was honored with just as many prizes and awards.
"I am often asked how I came across solar energy, which was not taken seriously as an energy source at the time," wrote Adolf Goetzberger in 2018 in a review of his life. "I was particularly fascinated by the Club of Rome's study on the 'Limits to Growth'. It seemed obvious to me that, since fossil energy resources are finite, an inexhaustible source of energy such as the sun could not be ignored." Adolf Goetzberger headed Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg from its foundation in 1981 until his retirement in 1993. The institute, in which the unity of solar energy and energy systems technology was conceived and practiced from the very beginning, quickly grew into one of the leading institutes for solar research and is now the largest in Europe.
"We pay tribute to the life's work of Adolf Goetzberger and are grateful to him for his services to the development of solar energy systems and thus his great contribution to a global energy transition," says Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, one of the two current directors of Fraunhofer ISE. Institute Director Prof. Dr. Andreas Bett adds: "In him, the solar industry is losing a valued scientist and visionary pioneer who accompanied our institute with keen interest well into old age."
After studying experimental physics, Adolf Goetzberger completed his doctorate in 1955 at the University of Munich on the crystallization of evaporated antimony layers. He then worked together with the Nobel Prize winner and co-inventor of the transistor William Shockley in Palo Alto, California, and at the famous Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. In 1968, he returned to Germany and took over the management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF. In 1971, he was appointed honorary professor at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Freiburg, where he supervised numerous diploma and doctoral theses.
Adolf Goetzberger was the holder of over 30 patents, and his idea of agrivoltaics, developed together with Armin Zastrow as early as 1981, is experiencing its breakthrough today. His cooperation and judgment were highly valued in many expert committees, boards of trustees, commissions and working groups. From 1993 to 1997, Adolf Goetzberger was President of the German Society for Solar Energy (DGS).
Adolf Goetzberger's outstanding achievements in the use of solar energy have been recognized in many ways: In 1983, Adolf Goetzberger was the first German to receive the J. J. Ebers Award from the American IEEE Electron Devices Society for the development of the silicon field effect transistor. He also received the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 1989 and the Federal Cross of Merit First Class in 1992. In 1993 he was honored with the Achievement through Action Award of the ISES, in 1995 he received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University and the Farrington Daniels Award of the ISES. This was followed in 1997 by the Karl Boer Medal, the Becquerel Prize and the William R. Cherry Award. In 2006, he received the Einstein Award from Solar World AG and the European Solar Award from EUROSOLAR. In 2009, he was awarded the European Inventor Award in the "Lifetime achievement" category by the European Patent Office.
