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Heinz Wolff

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Heinz Wolff
Professor Heinz Wolff
Professor Heinz Wolff in 2010
Born
Heinz Siegfried Wolff

(1928-04-29)29 April 1928
Berlin, Germany
Died15 December 2017(2017-12-15) (aged 89)
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materUniversity College London
Scientific career
FieldsBioengineering
InstitutionsBrunel University

Heinz Siegfried Wolff (29 April 1928[1] – 15 December 2017)[2] FIEE FRSA[3] was a German-British scientist, and television and radio presenter. He was best known for the BBC television series The Great Egg Race.

Early life

Wolff was born in Berlin, and moved to Britain with his family as Jewish refugees in September 1939. They left Berlin on the day the Second World War started; Wolff was 11.[4] He was educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys.[5]

Career

Wolff worked at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford under Robert Gwyn Macfarlane,[5] and at the pneumoconiosis research unit near Cardiff, before going on to University College London, where he gained a first class honours degree in physiology and physics. Before going to UCL, he had been considered by Trinity College, Cambridge, but was rejected twice because his understanding of Latin was too weak.[6]

He spent much of his early career in bioengineering, a term which he himself coined in 1954[7] to take account of then recent advances in physiology. He became an honorary member of the European Space Agency in 1975, and in 1983 he founded the Brunel Institute for Bioengineering, which is involved in biological research during weightless spaceflight. Following retirement, he was emeritus professor of bioengineering at Brunel University. Wolff was the scientific director and co-founder of Project Juno, the private British-Soviet joint venture which sent Helen Sharman to the Mir space station.[4]

A familiar face in the 1970s and early 1980s, well known to British television audiences with his memorable bow tie and pronounced German accent, his best remembered programme is probably The Great Egg Race.[4] He was also the presenter of Great Experiments, and presenter/judge of the annual Young Scientists of the Year series.[1]

Professor Wolff was one of the first people to be interviewed by Ali G, during that character's initial appearances on The 11 O'Clock Show.[8]

In 1989 he appeared on After Dark with among others astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

In 2007 Wolff made a guest appearance on Channel 4's Comedy Lab episode "Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool", where he is seen explaining to Pilkington the sudden rise of intelligence in Homo sapiens.[9]

In March 2009, he appeared in the puzzle video game Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity.[10]

Lectures

In 1975 he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on Signals from the Interior.[11] In 2005 he presented the Higginson Lecture at Durham University.[12]

Personal life

In 1953 he married Joan Stephenson, then a staff nurse, whom he met during work.[1] Widowed in October 2014, he died from heart failure on 15 December 2017. He is survived by his two sons.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Buchanunn, Joe (16 December 2017). "Professor Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter, dies aged 89". Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2014. Prof Heinz Wolff, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Bioengineering, Brunel University, 83
  3. ^ "Heinz Wolff at Brunel University". Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d Grierson, James (16 December 2017). "Heinz Wolff, scientist and Great Egg Race presenter, dies at 89". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b The Independent: "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Professor Heinz Wolff, scientist and broadcaster"
  6. ^ Fabian Acker (10 May 1984), "Heinz Wolff: a technology buff", New Scientist, 102 (1409): 47
  7. ^ Candi Design Ltd. www.candidesign.co.uk. "Professor Heinz Wolff". Heinzwolff.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Ritchie, Harry (2013). English for the Natives. London: Hodder. p. 87. ISBN 9781848548374. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ Walker, Esther (10 October 2007). "Interview:Karl Pilkington". The Independent. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  10. ^ "E3 2008: Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity Hands-On". Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Signals from the interior". The Royal Institute. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Higginson Lectures". Durham University. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
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