Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (born 25 June 1939) is a German scientist and politician ( SPD). He was a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

and served as co-president of the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...

jointly with

Anders Wijkman Anders Ivar Sven Wijkman (born 30 September 1944 in Stockholm) is a Swedish politician ( Swedish: ''Kristdemokraterna'', KD) who was Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2009. As member of the European Parliament, he focused on issue ...

2011 – 2019.

Family

A member of the prominent

Weizsäcker family The Weizsäcker family (), some with the nobiliary particle von (), originated in the former Kingdom of Württemberg and has had prominent and influential members over several generations. Its members include a Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Würt ...

, he is the son of physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and nephew of former German president

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobili ...

. Since 1969, he is married to Christine von Weizsäcker. Together, they have five children, including MEP Jakob von Weizsäcker.

Youth and education

Born in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

, Switzerland, Weizsäcker spent his childhood in

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

. In 1966, he graduated from

Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, ...

in physics. In 1968, he obtained his PhD in biology from

Freiburg University The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

Career

In 1972, he was appointed full professor of biology at Essen University. In 1975, he was recruited as president of the then newly founded

University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 profe ...

. In 1981, he joined the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

in New York as director at the UN Center for Science and Technology. From 1984 to 1991 he headed the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn. In 1991, Weizsäcker became founding president of the Wuppertal Institute, soon establishing itself as a leading environmental think tank. In 1998, he was elected a member of the German

for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) and re-elected in 2002. As a legislator, he chaired the select committee on

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

(2000–2002) and the environment committee (2002–2005). After his decision not to run in the 2005 election, he became Dean of the

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management The Bren School of Environmental Science & Management is a graduate professional school at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The mission of the Bren School is to play a leading role in researching environmental issues, identifying and ...

at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. He returned to Germany in 2009 where is his an honorary professor at

. A bestselling author in Germany, his English language books include ''Earth Politics'' (1994), ''Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use'' (1995), ''Factor 5'' (2009) and ''Limits to Privatization'' (2005).

Awards and honours

* 2000 Honorary doctorate of Sōka University * 2001

Takeda Award The Takeda Foundation, is an organisation based in Japan. In 2001 it launched an annual awards program, which presented awards accompanied by 100 million yen under the categories social/economic well-being, individual/humanity well-being, and ...

* 2008

German Environmental Prize The German Environmental Prize (german: Deutscher Umweltpreis) is a government-sponsored award for protecting the environment. Worth €500,000, it is one of the most valuable environmental awards in Europe. The sponsor German Federal Environment ...

* 2009 Commander's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 2011 Theodor Heuss Prize * 2012

Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (german: link=no, Verdienstorden des Landes Baden-Württemberg) is the highest award of the German State of Baden-Württemberg. Established 26 November 1974, it was originally called the Medal of Merit of Bad ...

*Honorary Councillor of the

World Future Council The World Future Council (WFC) is a German non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Hamburg. It works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to future generations. FuturePolicy.org The website f ...

References

External links

Website of Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weizsacker, Ernst Ulrich von 1939 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Politicians from Zürich Ernst Ulrich Club of Rome members Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Non-fiction environmental writers Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany Scientists from Zürich