Obituary

Em. Professor Horst Nowacki, born on 9 February 1933 in Berlin/Germany, passed away peacefully on June 5, 2023, in Bremen/Germany, surrounded by his loved ones.

Horst Nowacki was a graduate of the Technical University of Berlin, receiving his Diploma of Engineering Degree in Naval Architecture/Ship Technology in 1958 and his Doctor of Engineering Degree in 1963. He worked between 1958-59 as a research engineer at the Ship Model Basin for Inland Ships in Duisburg and was Scientific Assistant at the Chair of Ship Theory of the Technical University of Berlin in the period 1959-1964.

After his PhD, he moved to the University of Michigan, Dept. of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Ann Arbor, USA, in the period 1964-1974 to become first Assistant Professor of Ship Design. He was later promoted to Associate and finally to Full Professor before returning to Germany in 1974. He was appointed Full Professor and head of the newly established Section of Ship Design at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Ship and Ocean Technology, where he served until his retirement (1974-1998). Since 2001, he was Visiting Scholar of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

The areas of his educational and research work cover the wider field of Naval Architecture, Information Technology and in later years the history of Ship Theory. His work refers to Ship Design, Computer-Aided Design and Optimization, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Theoretical and Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, Ship Dynamics and Hydroelasticity, Geometrical Modeling, CAD/CAM, Information Technology, Product Modeling, Product Data Engineering, History of Ship Theory.

He was member of the German Society of Ship Technology (STG) and of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME).

He was organizer of a long series of post-graduate, continuing education courses and workshops on Computer Aided Ship Design and Ship Design Optimisation after 1968 in USA, Germany, UK, China, Poland, Indonesia, Norway and for over 40 years.

He received for his work a series of awards, distinctions and fellowships, namely the Distinguished Service Award, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1969, Professor for CAD/CAM, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, V.R. China, 1985, Visiting Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1992, Honorary Commodore, Quarterdeck Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1993, Honorary membership of the ProSTEP Association, Darmstadt, 1998, Silver Commemorative Award of the Shipbuilding Society (STG), Berlin, 1999, Visiting scholar of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Captain Ralph R. and Florence M. Peachman Lectureship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2007. Furthermore, he received two additional prestigious distinctions, namely the honorary doctoral degree Dr. h.c. of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1996, and the Honorary Membership Award of the TU Berlin, Berlin in 1998.

The many students, colleagues and friends of Horst Nowacki from all over the world will never forget his kindness, wisdom and academic ethos that were inherent to his personality, and he generously shared with us over many years.

Condolences may be shared under www.hn90.de

His student

Apostolos Papanikolaou
em. Professor NTUA