Prof. em. Dr. Hans Böhni

Hans K. Böhni was Full Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), beginning 1976. He retired in September 2002.

Born January 3, 1937, he attended the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, where he also received his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry. After graduation he studied at MIT, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, as a postdoctoral fellow (1967-1968) under the direction of Professor H. H. Uhlig.

In 1969 Hans Böhni joined the Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) where he headed the section "Corrosion and Surface Protection". In 1976 he was appointed full Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is a member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as of the Department of Materials Science. Since 1983 he is president of the "Swiss Society for Corrosion Protection" and president of the "Foundation of Rare Metals". He is also a member of the International Corrosion Council. In 1996 he was elected a fellow of the Electrochemical Society.

Hans Böhni concentrates his research activities on obtaining basic information on corrosion and corrosion protection mechanisms such as passivation and localized corrosion processes. At the present time the high corrosion resistance of metals and alloys are investigated with high-resolution techniques such as micro- and nanoelectrochemical methods, photoelectrochemical techniques and scanning tunneling microscopy. Within the field of reinforced concrete structures the research is focused on on-line monitoring of transport processes using electrochemical sensor techniques to improve service life predictions of new as well as of already restored engineering structures.