Club of Pioneers - Blogging Pioneers

"Hydrogenius" is the effective concept of an environmental-friendly aircraft presented by the Institute of Aircraft Design, University of Stuttgart.

Under the supervision of Prof. Rudolf Voit-Nitschmann, Len Schumann and Steffen Geinitz launched the "Hydrogenius" in February 2007. Both graduated in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Stuttgart. Len Schumann is responsible for the aerodynamics and the airframe construction, Steffen Geinitz is in charge of the propulsion system from the hydrogen storage to the propeller. The goal for Hydrogenius is to demonstrate a fuel cell driven equal-zero-emission aircraft with extensively comparable flight performances to established aircrafts of the same dimension.

InVentus is a team of students from the University of Stuttgart. They are building the “Ventomobil” a wind driven automobile. The project was established in summer 2007 by Prof. Marin Kühn and the students Jan Lehmann and Alexander Miller.

The team members are studying in various fields. Some are aeronautic students, others environmental or electrical students. The team is supported by the Endowed Chair of Wind Energy at the Institute of Aircraft Design, where InVentus has its office and uses the workshop.

The idea behind InVentus is the building of a fast, zero emission vehicle participating in the Aeolus Race in Den Helder in august 2008.

	Christoph Metzelder plays in the German National Soccer Team. He participated in the World's Cup 2002 and 2006. Apart from soccer he is a Unicef Ambassador and is a director of www.roterkeil.net, an institution fighting against child prostitution.

Patrick Ng is born in 1978 and works as a Purchasing Manager for BMW. He lives and works in Singapore. After he graduated in Electronics Engineering, he went over to China and worked for 2 years in Guangzhou for a petrochemical company before returning to Singapore.

After a year in Singapore, he joined BMW and went to Germany for a year of training before returning to Singapore again. He wishes to bring together ideas from the East and the West on sustainability and other environmental issues like waste management and alternative energy.

	David de Rothschild is the 28-year-old founder and creator of the Sculpt the FutureTM an independently run initiative that aims to raise environmental awareness and action through education. No stranger to using alternative mediums to gain awareness for environmental and social change, in 2005, Adventure Ecology, the latest initiative from the Sculpt the FutureTM was launched.

	Lars Thomsen is a reputed German Futurist, who’s institute "future matters" explores trends and developments, particularly in the fields of technology, energy and society.

Dr. Ulrich Walter, born in 1954, is a full professor for astronautics at the Technische Universität München.

After his studies of physics at the University of Cologne he spent one year at the US research laboratory Argonne National Laboratories in Chicago, then he went to the university of California, Berkeley for a year as a postdoctoral student. In 1987 he was appointed to be a member of the German team of astronauts, and until the start of the Shuttle Mission D-2 from April 26 till May 6, 1993, he was trained at the German Aerospace Center DLR in Köln-Porz as well as at the NASA Space Center in Houston.

Since March 2003 he is heading the Institute of Astronautics at the Technische Universität München teaching and researching in the field of satellite technology.

	Dr. Carl-Jochen Winter, mechanical engineer, professor in engineering at the University Stuttgart, Germany, for 15 years director of the energy department of the German Aerospace Center, Vice President, The International Association of Hydrogen Energy.