physics

Reimund Gerhard

Reimund Gerhard is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Reimund Gerhard rather than just read about it. In short: Reimund Gerhard (born 31 May 1952 in Heidelberg) is a German applied physicist and university professor. Between 1979 and 2006 he used the last name "Gerhard-Multhaupt".

Key takeaways

Reimund Gerhard belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Reimund Gerhard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Reimund Gerhard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Reimund Gerhard (born 31 May 1952 in Heidelberg) is a German applied physicist and university professor. Between 1979 and 2006 he used the last name "Gerhard-Multhaupt".

Education Gerhard graduated from the Technical University of Darmstadt as Diplom-Physiker in 1978 and was a research student with Martin M. Perlman (1930–2013) in 1978/79. In 1984, he obtained his Ph.D. with Gerhard M. Sessler at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Career From 1985 until 1994, Gerhard was scientist and project manager at the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut fuer Nachrichtentechnik (now Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications) Berlin in the department led by Gerhard Mahler. In 1994 and 1996, he was appointed university professor for sensorics and for applied condensed-matter physics of the University of Potsdam. From 1997 until 2000, Gerhard served as director of the institute of physics and astronomy, from 2006 to 2008 as vice dean, and from 2008 to 2012 as dean of the faculty of science at the university. Between 2004 and 2012, he chaired the joint board of the master-of-science program in polymer science at the four universities with science faculties in Berlin and Potsdam. From 2014 until 2016 he was a member of the university senate in Potsdam. He has undertaken visiting appointments at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, USA (1981, 1982, 1983), at the Tongji University in Shanghai, China (1987 and 1989), at the École Normal Supérieure (ENS) in Cachan, France (1995/96 and 2014/15), at the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Carlos, Brazil (1999, 2005–06, 2012), at the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI) in Paris, France (1999), at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (HUJI) (2013), at the Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) in Xi'an, China (2015, 2017, 2019), and at Chongqing University in Chongqing, China (2018 and 2019). Gerhard served as secretary of the 5th IEEE International Symposium on Electrets (ISE) in Heidelberg (1985), co-chair of the 7th IEEE International Symposium on Electrets (ISE) in Berlin (1991), chair of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Solid Dielectrics (ICSD) in Potsdam (2010) and chair of the 2nd International Conference on Electromechanically Active Polymers (EuroEAP) in Potsdam (2012). He was the vice president for technical activities of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) in 2007–2008 and 2014–2015. From January 2018 through December 2019 he served as president of the IEEE Dielectrics & Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS). His research portfolio includes polymer electrets with quasi-permanent space charge, ferro- or piezoelectrets (polymer films with electrically charged cavities), ferroelectric polymers with piezo- and pyroelectric properties, polymer composites with novel property combinations, physical mechanisms of dipole orientation and charge storage, electrically deformable dielectric elastomers (sometimes also called "electro-electrets"), as well as the physics of musical instruments.

Awards and honors Student fellowship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (1974–1979) ITG Award of the Informationstechnische Gesellschaft im VDE (1988) Silver medal as young scientist of the foundation Werner-von-Siemens-Ring (1989) Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (1992) Technology-Transfer Award of the Technologie-Stiftung Brandenburg (2001) Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) (2011) Whitehead Memorial Lecture of the IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP) (2014) Bernhard Gross Memorial Lecture, 16th International Symposium on Electrets (ISE), Leuven, Belgium, September 2017 E. O. Forster Distinguished Service Award, IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (2023)

References

External links Wirges, Werner (16 November 2022). "Soft Transducer Materials and Systems". Soft Transducer Materials and Systems. Retrieved 22 July 2023.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Reimund Gerhard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Reimund Gerhard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Reimund Gerhard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Reimund Gerhard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Reimund Gerhard

In research: Reimund Gerhard appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Reimund Gerhard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Reimund Gerhard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 20th-century German physicists, 21st-century German physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Reimund Gerhard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Reimund Gerhard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Reimund Gerhard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Reimund Gerhard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Reimund Gerhard in simple terms?

Reimund Gerhard (born 31 May 1952 in Heidelberg) is a German applied physicist and university professor. Between 1979 and 2006 he used the last name "Gerhard-Multhaupt".

Why does Reimund Gerhard matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Reimund Gerhard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Reimund Gerhard.