Prof. em. Dr. Hugo Bachmann

From 1977 to 2000 Hugo Bachmann was Full Professor of Structural Engineering in the Institute for Structural Engineering at the ETH Zurich. His main fields of activity concerned structural dynamics and earthquake engineering. He retired end of September 2000.

Hugo Bachmann comes from Niedermuhlern BE and was born on September 27, 1935. He took his degree in civil engineering at the ETH in 1959. After practical experience in bridge and structural engineering and in the development division of a prestressed concrete company and in a construction company, he earned his doctorate in 1968 under Professor B. Thürlimann at the ETH Zurich with a dissertation on the subject of application of theory of plasticity on statically indeterminate reinforced concrete beans.

After teaching assignments in bridge engineering, Hugo Bachmann was appointed Assistant Professor for concrete structures in 1969, Associate Professor in 1971, and full Professor in 1977. He soon became involved in the increasingly important fields of oscillation and earthquake-safe building. Innovative experimental and theoretical research work - e.g. the new earthquake simulator at the ETH - have made the Institute for Structural Engineering renowned worldwide in the field of structural dynamics and earthquake engineering.

Hugo Bachmann has written several books in both German and English on vibration problems, earthquake resistant structures and building design, some of which have become standard works on the subject and were translated in numerous other languages. He supervised the drafting and implementation of modern earthquake codes in Switzerland. 2004 he founded the Swiss Foundation for Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Hugo Bachmann received many high honours, among them a Doctor honoris causa from University of Kassel (Germany) and the honorary memberships of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) and of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering (EAEE).