Martin Grötschel (Zuse Institute Berlin)
Short bio
Martin Grötschel, born in 1948, studied mathematics at U Bochum, he received his PhD in economics and habilitation in Operations Research at U Bonn. He is currently mathematics professor at TU Berlin, president of Zuse Institute Berlin, and secretary of the International Mathematical Union. He chaired the DFG Research Center Matheon “Mathematics for Key Technologies” from 2002 to 2008.
Grötschel’s main areas of research are discrete mathematics and optimization with a special focus on the design of practically efficient algorithms for hard combinatorial optimization problems appearing in practice. The application areas of his research group include telecommunications, chip design, energy, production planning and control, logistics, and public transport. Several start-up companies were founded by his students.
Grötschel’s scientific achievements were honored with several distinctions including the Leibniz, the Beckurts, the Dantzig, the Fulkerson, and the John von Neumann Theory Prize. He holds four honorary degrees and is a member of four scientific academies.