Franz Schwabl, Who Held the Chair of Theoretical Physics V at the Technical University

Franz Schwabl 1938 – 2009

Franz Schwabl, who held the Chair of Theoretical Physics V at the Technical University

Munich from 1982 to 2003, passed away unexpectedly on August 4, 2009.

Franz Schwabl was born at Zell am See, Austria on June 24, 1938. Having studied physics at the University of Vienna, he received his doctorate on phonon lifetimes at age 24 under the guidance of Walter Thirring. Subsequently he joined Richard Ferrell’s group at the University of Virginia, with whom he wrote a series of famous papers on dynamical scaling and on second sound propagation in superfluid helium which have since become standard references in the field of critical phenomena.

In 1968, Schwabl returned to Europe, first to Munich and then to Vienna, where he earned his habilitation within two years, working on the hydrodynamics of magnetic systems. His interest in critical dynamics near structural phase transitions emerged at Jülich in 1971. In much cited work he developed theoretical models that explained the observed central peak in the dynamical structure factor near displacive transitions through defect-induced phonon condensation.

Schwabl accepted a professorship at Linz University in 1973. He and his collaborators were among the pioneers to apply novel renormalization group methods to the statistical mechanics of critical phenomena, notably the critical statics and dynamics of elastic phase transitions. They also developed a model that unifies the critical dynamics of systems as varied as isotropic antiferromagnets and superfluid helium, and investigated critical effects in ultrasound absorption.

After Schwabl joined the physics department at the TU Munich in 1982, his scientific interests branched out in several fruitful directions. In addition to open problems in magnetism and structural phase transitions, which always remained close to his heart, he became intrigued by the behavior of systems far from thermal equilibrium. Emerging technologies motivated his application of Ginzburg-Landau theory to the phenomenology of magnetic multilayers. Extending his work on the hydrodynamics of magnetic systems, Schwabl and his growing research group published a series of seminal papers that addressed the influence of dipolar interactions on the critical dynamics of ferromagnets and quantitatively described a variety of experimental data. Induced by his friendship with Per Bak, Schwabl began studying models for self-organized critical phenomena in 1989. Scale invariance and structure formation in nonequilibrium systems remained active and successful research areas in his group for many years.

Complementing his active research program, Schwabl played a crucial role in organizing the Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics (MECO). During the last two decades of the cold war, this conference series allowed statistical physicists in the East and West to maintain open scientific dialogue and beneficial collaborations across the iron curtain. After his retirement in 2003, Schwabl served as chairman of the section for dynamics and statistical physics in the German Physical Society, and was also actively involved with the European Physical Society.

As a lecturer, Schwabl succeeded to combine teaching highly demanding material with utmost clarity in presentation. He incited enthusiasm for theoretical physics in his students, and drew their curiosity towards open questions. He was adamant that physics cannot be mastered by passively listening to lectures, but that true understanding is acquired and enforced through actively solving instructive problems. Fortunately, Schwabl’s textbooks on Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Physics will propagate this spirit to future generations of physicists.

Franz Schwabl was a very successful and highly productive researcher, a broadly interested and talented scientist, and an outstanding and inspiring teacher. He took great care to nurture his junior collaborators, led scientific discussions with them as equals, and always gave them considerable largesse to harness their own creativity and new ideas. We enjoyed working and discussing physics with Franz Schwabl, learned a tremendous amount from him, and happily look back to the periods in our lives we were fortunate enough to share with him. He was an honest and straightforward man, though also rather reserved in character, which tended to render it difficult for people to become close to him on a personal level. Yet once one gained his confidence, he would be steadfast and utterly reliable in his support. We shall remember Franz Schwabl in deep gratitude. He will be sorely missed both as mentor and colleague.

Dieter Bäuerle, Johannes-Kepler Universität Linz, Austria ()

Barbara Drossel, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany ()

Reinhard Folk, Johannes-Kepler Universität Linz, Austria ()

Erwin Frey, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany ()

Uwe C. Täuber, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia ()