© Reetz

Born: May 05, 1942, in: Dresden
Died: June 10, 2019, in Dresden
Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering
Academic title: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil

Beate Reetz began her professional career in 1956 with an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk in the energy supply sector. Her interest in technical and economic issues led her to study engineering economics at the Engineering College for Electrical Energy in Zittau from 1959. After graduating, she worked as a power plant engineer in Erfurt until 1964. Beate Reetz then moved back to Dresden, where she worked at the Institute for Energy Supply. Parallel to her professional career, she studied thermal engineering at the TUD Dresden University of Technology in the evening and by distance learning.

Her academic career began in 1970 with a postgraduate course at the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, which she completed in 1975 with a doctorate on problems of heat transport over long distances. In the meantime, she and her husband were employed as Research Associates at the United Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (former Soviet Union) before she was offered a senior assistant position at TU Dresden.

Her passion for research and teaching led her back to TU Dresden, where she worked as a lecturer from 1977 to 1986. In 1984, she was awarded the title of Dr. sc. techn. with a thesis on heat supply from nuclear power plants and was appointed Full Professor of Industrial Energy Management at the Energy Conversion Section in 1986. She was also responsible for energy strategy issues as a Research Associate at the Central Institute for Nuclear Research Rossendorf at the beginning of the 1980s.

According to the obituary of the Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering, she supported numerous diploma and doctoral students who are still shaping the energy industry in Dresden and Germany today. With the founding of the Research Center for Heat and Environmental Protection Technology (FOWUT) in the early 1990s, she also laid the foundation for innovative solutions in the field of environmental protection and energy efficiency.

In 1995, she accepted an appointment at Graz University of Technology, where she was a full professor of thermal engineering and head of the Institute of Thermal Engineering. Due to a serious illness, she had to end her academic career in 2004.

Even after her active time at university, Beate Reetz remained passionately committed to environmental protection and the use of renewable energies. As a member of the Fördergesellschaft Erneuerbare Energien e. V. (FEE), she was particularly committed to sustainable technologies.

In his obituary for Beate Reetz, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil Ralph Stelzer points out that she was particularly committed to promoting young women and their equal rights.

Beate Reetz will be remembered as a pioneering scientist, inspiring promoter and committed campaigner for equality for women in science. Her impressive life's work not only shaped the energy industry, but also made a significant contribution to the advancement of future generations.