Life and Career
Konrad Osterwalder was born in Frauenfeld, Thurgau, Switzerland, in June 1942. He studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule; ETH) in Zurich, where he earned a Diploma in theoretical physics in 1965 and a Doctorate in theoretical physics in 1970.
After one year with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, he accepted a research position at Harvard University in 1971. He remained on the faculty of Harvard for seven years, and was promoted to Assistant Professor for Mathematical Physics in 1973 and Associate Professor for Mathematical Physics in 1976. In 1977, he returned to Switzerland upon being appointed a full Professor for Mathematical Physics at ETH Zurich.
During his tenure at ETH Zurich, Rector Osterwalder served as Head of the Department of Mathematics (1986–1990) and Head of the Planning Committee (1990–1995), and was founder of the Centro Stefano Franscini seminar center in Ascona. He was appointed Rector of ETH in 1995 and held that post for 12 years. From November 2006 through August 2007, he also served concurrently as ETH President pro tempore.
On 1 September 2007, Rector Osterwalder joined the United Nations University as its fifth rector. In that role, he held the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was succeeded by Canadian David M. Malone.
Rector Osterwalder's research focused on the mathematical structure of relativistic quantum field theory as well as on elementary particle physics and statistical mechanics. During his long and distinguished career, he has been a Visiting Fellow/Guest Professor at several prominent universities around the world, including the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES; Bures-sur-Yvette, France); Harvard University; University of Texas (Austin); Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics (Munich), Università La Sapienza (Rome); Università di Napoli; Waseda University; and Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel).
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