Bernhard Spaan

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Spaan was a distinguished academic and faculty member at TU Dortmund, where he held a professorship in the Department of Physics. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Physics from 2008 to 2014 and was a member of the TU Dortmund Senate since 2016. Prior to TU Dortmund, he was a Professor at TU Dresden (1996–2004) in Experimental Hadron Physics. Spaan was a pivotal leader in the LHCb collaboration at CERN, serving as Chairman of its Collaboration Board for five years and significantly influencing German contributions to the project. He tragically died in December 2021 at age 61, leaving a profound legacy in physics education and research.

Education:

• 1979–1985: Studies at the University of Dortmund (now TU Dortmund).
• 1988: Dissertation on rare decays of the tau lepton and tau neutrino mass at TU Dortmund.
• Research fellowships at McGill University (Canada, 1993–1995), SLAC (Stanford), and Cornell University's storage ring, contributing to CP violation detection in B meson decays.

Research Contributions: Spaan specialized in experimental particle physics, particularly tau lepton properties, detector optimization, and heavy-flavor physics. He pioneered methods for determining tau mass and provided first evidence of matter-antimatter transitions. His work bridged particle physics with medical physics, leading to the establishment of TU Dortmund’s Medical Physics degree programs. Over his career, he contributed to 1,675 publications (listed at INSPIRE HEP).

Awards and Legacy: While no specific scientific awards are mentioned, his peers and institutions celebrated his contributions through memorials like the 2022 LHCb Week dedicated to him. His leadership in resolving conflicts and fostering collaboration was legendary, as noted in obituaries and testimonials.

Administration and Mentorship: Beyond research, Spaan played key administrative roles, including dean and senate member. He mentored researchers and shaped the trajectory of the Albrecht Working Group. His legacy continues through the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group led by Dr. Dominik Mitzel at his former chair.

Engagement: Spaan was deeply involved in university and international physics communities, serving on the national committee for particle physics, R-ECFA, and CERN’s LHCb collaboration. He also engaged with student activities, such as the physics student council’s Advent calendar raffle in 2020/2021.