TH/TU Karl-Marx-Stadt/ChemnitzChemnitz

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TH/TU Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz

The University originates from the "Royal Industrial School" which started in 1836. Already one year later it has been extended by a "Building Trades Branch", followed in 1855 by a "Royal Foreman School". A "School for Technical Drawing" existed in Chemnitz already since 1796. These four schools coexisted and were unified by the person of a Director. In 1878 they were combined and finally (1929), after several changes of the name and the structure, formed a "Governmental Technological Academy". This institution was well recognized in Germany and achieved a position between technical colleges and technical universities.

After World War II , in 1947, there was a restart as an industrial college. In 1953 it was extended to an "Institution of Higher Education in Mechanical Engineering" which was upgraded in 1963. In 1986 it received the rank of a University

Summary of My Scientific Activities

In 1972, I started at the Department of Information Technology of the Chemnitz University of Technology; until 1983, my research activities were focused on theoretical and practical problems of logic design. Important results were

  • a complete theory for solving boolean equations,
  • algorithms and programs for solving boolean equations with a high number of variables (together with Prof. B. Steinbach),
  • the Boolean Differential Calculus (a generalized differential and integral calculus for boolean rings) for the analytical treatment of different problems in the field of logic design (together with Prof. D. Bochmann). The results have been assembled in a monography ("Binary Dynamic Systems") published simultaneously in Akademie-Verlag Berlin, Oldenbourg-Verlag Munich-Vienna and in the Soviet Union, and allowed the habilitation (Dr.-Ing. habil.) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1979.

In 1979, I was promoted to the level of Associate Professor for the area of Logic Design. Up to 1983, my teaching tasks comprehended the fields of

  • Discrete Mathematics,
  • Switching Theory,
  • Logic Design,
  • Mathematical Problems of Information Technology.

my latest books
Two textbooks written in this time aimed at a higher level in the theoretical and mathematical training of graduate engineers of information technology. About 1976, I started my research activities in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with the aim of applying logical methods. In 1976, I gave the first lectures in Artificial Intelligence.

In 1983, I started as Full Professor for Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science. My main task at that time was to prepare the courses of Computer Science which started in 1984. From 1984, I was Head of the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Research Director of the Department of Computer Science. My main activities concentrated on the creation of the education and research in Artificial Intelligence, with the guiding lines to investigate the applicability of classic and non-classic logics in AI, from the theoretical base to algorithmic and programmable concepts. Because of the personal situation in the Department of Computer Science, my range of lectures was very broad and comprehensive; important lectures concerned

  • Computer Architecture and Computer Systems (4 sem.),
  • Logic Programming and Artificial Intelligence (3 sem.),
  • Theoretical Computer Science and Complexity Theory (3 sem.),
  • Program Verification (1 sem.),
  • Program Specification (1 sem.),
  • Non-classic Logics in Computer Science (1 sem.),
  • Foundations of Computer Science (2 semester for students of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics).

The teaching activities came up to 10 or 12 lessons a week.

  • Visiting Professor in Varna (Bulgaria), 1986,
  • Visiting Professor at the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Stuttgart (automata theory and formal languages, non-classic logics in Computer Science), 1990/1991.

An independent direction of research activities within AI, investigations of computer chess and other strategic games, arose from my love to chess. Other research activities concerned

  • the application of fuzzy logics for the modelling of human-like "thinking" methods,
  • the learning from examples,
  • the construction of intelligent tutoring systems,
  • the parallelization of inference mechanisms,
  • systems of diagnosis and configuration.

In cooperation with colleagues from mechanical engineering and medicine, I have been supervising the construction of several expert systems.
Four times I received the Scientific Award of the Chemnitz University of Technology.