On the occasion of Alfred Hütter's anniversary

In order to honour the work and personality of the university teacher and scientist Alfred Hütter, the laboratory of the Institute for Building Materials at the Technical University was named after the German civil engineer Professor (em.) Dr. Ing. e. h. Alfred Hütter.
He was born in Pirna on 13 March 1915. He studied civil engineering at the then Technical University in Dresden until 1939 and graduated with distinction in this field.
The starting point of his professional career was in the structural engineering office of Prof. Dr. Kurt Beyer. There he was not only one of Beyer's closest colleagues, but also his student. Thus, he received his doctorate in 1942 with a dissertation on stress peaks in perforated sheet metal.
Immediately after the end of the war, he worked as a senior staff member in the construction department of the Saxon state government and devoted all his energy to advancing the reconstruction of Saxony and the city of Dresden.
Between 1951 and 1958, he was put in charge of the building inspection department of the former German Office for Material and Goods Testing (ASMW, later MPA) in Dresden. During these years, he acquired his profound knowledge and in-depth experience in the field of building materials. In combination with his qualifications as a structural engineer and designer, his expertise was highly regarded in building practice. For example, he demonstrated his expert guidance during the construction of the test hall for the Civil Engineering Section at Zelleschen Weg.
In 1952, Hütter was appointed as a lecturer at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Dresden University of Technology and was made an honorary professor in 1953. In view of his merits and due to his excellent reputation as a university lecturer, he was appointed professor of the Chair of Building Materials and Strength of Materials 10 years later (1963).
He remained active in this teaching post until his retirement in 1980, most recently as the head of the scientific area "Construction Mechanics and Building Materials".
As a scientific supervisor and reviewer, he not only passed on his theoretical and practical knowledge to a considerable number of international doctoral students, but also used it in the preparation of various study and teaching materials.
He was also a member of numerous committees. These include, for example, the Bauakademie and the Research Council of the GDR, the scientific advisory board for civil engineering and architecture of the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education, as well as RILEM. Especially there, his research results were highly recognised, so that this international organisation for engineers, which is still important today, elected him as its president in 1967. In the following year, the RILEM symposium "Bitumen in Civil Engineering" was organised under his direction in Dresden and enjoyed lively international participation.
In order to solemnly honour his services to the development of the building industry in the German Democratic Republic, he was awarded the honorary title of Doctor of Engineering in 1980.
Shortly after reaching the age of 69, Alfred Hütter was taken from his active scientific work by sudden death on 22 March 1984. A final tribute was paid to him by the dedication of the laboratory building and the experimental hall in Georg-Schumann-Str. 7a in 2010.
 

Quellen:
HEINZ OPITZ (1975): Professor Dr.-Ing. Alfred Hütter 60 Jahre. w: Bauplanung, Bautechnik 29 (3), S. 131
RUDOLF KNÖNER (1984): Nachruf für Professor (em.) Dr. Ing. Dr. Ing. e. h. Alfred Hütter. w: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Technischen Universität Dresden 33 (3), S. 1 – 2