Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Schwarz (2016)

Karlheinz Schwarz was born in Vienna in 1941 and studied chemistry at the University of Vienna (alongside physics and mathematics). His dissertation concerns quantum chemical calculations on solids. In 1968 he received his doctorate from the University of Vienna and worked as part of his PostDoc (1969-1971) with Prof. J.C Slater, a pioneer of quantum mechanics, on the Quantum Theory Project at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Schwarz further developed the "Augmented Plane Wave Method" (APW method) in his dissertation - the basis for the worldwide used program system WIEN2k. Prof. Schwarz was internationally active in science for a long time, but since 1972 he had his focus at the TU Wien. In 1974 he habilitated in quantum chemistry and has been a professor since 1976.

For his scientific achievements, Karlheinz Schwarz has now been awarded the Zsigmondy Medal by the Faculty of Technical Chemistry at TU Wien.