On the death of Prof. Carl H. Hahn Technische Universität Braunschweig mourns the death of its Honorary Senator

Prof. Dr. Carl H. Hahn, manager of the automotive industry and former Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen AG, had been Honorary Senator of Technische Universität Braunschweig since 1987. He died on 14 January 2023 at the age of 96.

With his international expertise, his foresight and his analytical and at the same time visionary thinking, he gave TU Braunschweig new innovative impulses and thus helped shape its strategic direction for decades.

With Carl Hahn, TU Braunschweig has lost an outstanding personality who rendered special services to the promotion of science and its cooperation with industry. His achievements were formative for TU Braunschweig. Personally, he made a name for himself, especially with regard to automotive engineering. Early on, Carl Hahn saw the responsibility for the high standard of automotive engineering in Germany in the scientific solution of technical challenges. For him, research was indispensable and forward-looking to ensure competitiveness. That is why he particularly promoted cooperation with universities, research institutions and industry.

Prof. Dr. Carl Hahn (l.) received the certificate from the then President of TU Braunschweig, Prof. Bernd Rebe (r.), in 1987 on the occasion of the award of the honorary senatorship. Photo credit: University Archive/TU Braunschweig

The connection between Carl Hahn and TU Braunschweig went beyond the purely technical area. His suggestions led to the creation of further education courses. Among other things, he promoted the involvement of experts from Volkswagen AG as lecturers, who gave students insights into practice and thus contributed to the connection between practice and teaching at TU Braunschweig.

We bid farewell to Carl Hahn, a committed supporter of TU Braunschweig, to whom we are indebted and to whom we will always keep an honourable memory.

Technische Universität Braunschweig

The President                                    The Senate                     The Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Dr. Angela Ittel                                                                  Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Dröder