Karin and Heinz-Otto Peitgen, the sponsors of the Peitgen Foundation, and Dr. Martin Mehrtens, the University of Bremen’s Director of Finances and Administration, recently finalized the Statutes and Trustee Agreement of the “Karin und Heinz-Otto Peitgen-Stiftung”. The newly set up foundation is a sheltered foundation under the umbrella of the University of Bremen Foundation. University Rector Bernd Scholz-Reiter happily announced: “We consider ourselves most fortunate to be able to support the new trust foundation in this way”.
“We have a lot to thank the University of Bremen for, and this is our way of giving something back”, is how Karin and Heinz-Otto Peitgen explain their reasons for setting up the new foundation. Heinz-Otto Peitgen recalls: “When as a young professor I moved to Bremen from Bonn in 1977 the University was itself very young and still in the throes of finding the right path to take. The development since then has been quite remarkable. I’m proud to have been able to make a contribution. The University has always allowed me maximum freedom to realize my scientific visions”.
Heinz-Otto Peitgen was Professor for Mathematics at the University of Bremen for 35 years before retiring in 2012. He achieved worldwide acclaim between 1985 and 1991 for his pioneering work in chaos research and fractal geometry. The books he coauthored with Hartmut Jürgens and Dietmar Saupe became world best sellers and have been translated into seven languages.
Since 1991 he pioneered and paved the way for digital change in medicine. In 1995 he founded an institute for medical image computing, today‘s Fraunhofer Institute MEVIS. And together with his coworkers Hartmut Jürgens and Carl Evertsz, in 1997 he founded the enterprise known today as MeVis Medical Solutions AG, a publically listed company. Highlights of his research achievements were the development of techniques for more accurate diagnosis of breast cancer, and computer-aided imaging in cancer surgery, for which he received numerous prizes and awards.
Karin Peitgen worked for 25 years as a teacher in Bremen-Walle, and experience showed her just how difficult it is to achieve equal opportunity in education. “Industry, business and society are on the brink of radical change characterized by digitalization that equates to a completely new machine age. Those who now find themselves at the top can quickly fall to the bottom, and vice versa. That applies especially to industry and business, but is equally true for universities. The social divide that has been opening over past decades will accelerate and widen further. Children from socially disadvantaged families are likely to find even less equality of career opportunity than in the past”, says Karin Peitgen.
In front of this backdrop, the Karin and Heinz-Otto Peitgen Foundation will pursue two main objectives: “The foundation will support applied research in the area of digital innovation, and especially in medicine, with a view to further strengthening the University’s research excellence in this future-oriented field; and support for concrete projects in the areas of teacher training or school practice designed to enhance equal educational opportunity for children from disadvantaged families through the targeted innovative use of digital media and methods”. Karin and Heinz-Otto Peitgen go on to say: “In the latter context we are thinking for instance of Sugata Mitra and his promising hole-in-the-wall experiments or the Head Start Program in the USA”.
University Rector and member of the new trust foundation’s Board of Trustees, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, shows himself impressed: “For nearly two decades, the name Heinz-Otto Peitgen has been synonymous for innovations in computer-aided medical imaging now used in hospitals around the world. He has been instrumental in Bremen becoming known as a top address for technological advance in medicine. By setting up this foundation he is generating fresh impetus that will strengthen our Bremen position and underline the University’s commitment to society in the town and surrounding region”.
For further information, please contact:
University of Bremen
Transfer & Extern Partner
Cooperation in Education & Foundations
Dr. Christina Jung
Phone: +49 421-218-60336
email: christina.jungprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
