THE GOETHE-ZENTRUM NICOSIA CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO A

POWER POINT PRESENTATION BY:

PROFESSOR HARALD FRITZSCH: MY ESCAPE FROM LEIPZIG

Friday, 25 June 2010, 18.30 hrs, Goethe-Zentrum Nicosia

(Presentation held in English)

In the 1960s, Leipzig was the centre of resistance in East Germany. Harald Fritzsch, then a physics student, contemplated escape. But before he left, he wanted to demonstrate to the government that they had gone too far when  destroying  the famous Pauliner Church. Fritzsch and his friend S. Welzk unrolled a protest transparency in spectacular fashion during the last concert of the Bach Festival in 1968. Despite the great efforts of the secret police, the  STASI, the then government was unable to find out who was responsible for this act. Soon after, Fritzsch and his friend  began their journey to Bulgaria and in a daredevil endeavor escaped to Turkey by traversing the Black Sea in a folding canoe.  Professor Fritzsch will describe 

the difficult situation in the former GDR, his dangerous escape and  the time after.

Harald Fritzsch received his PHD  in Theoretical Physics from the Technical University of Munich in 1971. He was previously a Research Associate of CERN and has been serving as Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich since 1979. Professor Fritzsch won the prestigious Award of the Volkswagen Foundation in 1989 and the Medal for Science Publishing by the German Physical Society  in 1994. He is the author  of the TV series “Microcosmos”. Fritzsch is the president of the German Society of Medical Doctors and Scientists – the German equivalent  of the American AAAS and the British BAAS.

Professor Fritzsch will come to Cyprus for a colloquium on “Fundamental Constants in Physics and their Time Dependence”.

A reception will follow