At its general meeting at the LWL Henrichshütte Industrial Museum, the German VDEh Steel Institute awarded its Carl Lueg Medal to Wolfgang Bleck. In front of more than 150 members of the Association of German Steel Manufacturers (VDEh), the long-serving director of the Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy in Aachen was honoured for his services to steel research and the German steel industry. Bleck is only the 20th recipient in the almost 120-year-long history of the Carl Lueg Medal.
“It gives me great pleasure to show recognition to an extraordinary personality who has had a lasting impact on the fields of metallurgy and materials technology for iron and steel,” said VDEh Chairman Henrik Adam in his speech conferring the award. Bleck had not only been the head of an institute at one of the most renowned centres of education for young academics in the industry, but also a member of the senate, rectorate representative, dean and prorector at RWTH Aachen University.
His commitment to VDEh has also been remarkable: Bleck was a member of the association’s extended executive board for 24 years, played a key role in shaping its joint work on materials technology and was a major driving force in CPD activities as a seminar leader and lecturer at VDEh’s Steel Academy.
“I am very pleased and I appreciate the value of this award. In more than 40 years of professional life, I have encountered economic problems in the steel industry, but the material itself has never known a crisis. With its special physical and chemical properties, it has constantly been able to adapt to new requirements. Steel creates the world’s infrastructure, and the transition to green energy is only possible with it. Our task at universities is to demonstrate new material concepts and to inspire young people to become materials engineers,” Bleck explained in his acceptance speech.
The Carl Lueg Medal was handed out during the annual general meeting of the VDEh Steel Institute. This year, the Düsseldorf-based institute had chosen the LWL Henrichshütte Industrial Museum in Hattingen as a particularly historically significant venue for the event.
