Former ETH President Hans Hauri has passed away
Hans Heinrich Hauri, President of ETH Zurich from 1968 to 1973, passed away on 1 October at the age of 95.
Hans Hauri presided over ETH Zurich at an eventful time: 1968, when the Federal Council handed over leadership of ETH to him, entered the annals as a year of youth movements and student protests. In addition to this, the educational landscape was also undergoing major changes. During Hauri’s time in office, the size of ETH’s faculty hugely increased, which entailed construction work on both the central and Hönggerberg campuses.
Students demanded greater participation in university life, resulting in the Joint Commission, the first body with equal representation in ETH’s history. After around two years, this led to the Reform Commission, which later became the current University Assembly. These were demanding times for an ETH President. After five years, Hauri had to step down from his position for health reasons.
Impassioned teacher
Hans Hauri was born in 1924 and spent his childhood in Seengen (Aargau). He came to ETH as a young man and completed a degree in civil engineering there in 1947. After working as an assistant at ETH and for the French national railway in Paris, he founded an engineering firm in 1950 together with Rudolf Fietz. The firm implemented extraordinary projects – for example, an innovative foundation for the first proton synchrotron at the European nuclear research laboratory CERN.
In 1959, Hauri was elected as a senior teacher at the Technikum Winterthur (now the Zurich University of Applied Sciences). Imparting knowledge and educating young people were subjects very close to his heart. Four years later, he returned to ETH as a professor of structural design and construction. Even after stepping down as President in 1973, he dedicated himself enthusiastically to educating students. He founded the Institute for Building Technology, where, as a professor and director, he occupied himself with the key issues of structural physics and their effects on the design of supporting structures.