Friedrich Wagner

Life and career

Wagner was born in Pfaffenhofen an der Roth in Bavaria, Germany. He studied at the Technical University of Munich and completed his doctorate in 1972. He then worked at Ohio State University from 1973 to 1974. At first, he worked on low-temperature physics, but switched to plasma fusion research during the energy crisis of the time. In 1975, he started working for the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, and in 1986 he led the tokamak experiment ASDEX.

In 1988, Wagner habilitated at Heidelberg University and was given a teaching position there. He was then appointed honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich. From 1989 to 1993, Wagner was project manager of the Wendelstein 7-AS stellarator experiment.

In 1993, he became the director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and was Chairman of the Plasma Physics Department of the European Physical Society between 1996 and 2004. In 1999, he became full professor at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University in Greifswald. From 2003 to 2005, he was head of the Wendelstein 7-X experiment. He retired in 2008.

He was President of the European Physical Society between 2007 and 2009.