Our long-time colleague Fritz Nolden passed away on 28 December 2023 at the age of 70.
After studying physics at the Technical University of Munich and completing his diploma thesis under the supervision of Paul Kienle, Fritz Nolden began working at GSI Darmstadt in July 1985. His work focused on aspects of the planned Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) in Bernhard Franzke’s group. Initially he dealt with general questions regarding the interpretation and design of the storage ring and related beam-dynamics aspects. Here he benefited from his ability to work on theoretical problems, which played a major role in his further career and which, as he always liked to emphasise, was the greatest motivation and basis for his work.
After working intensively in the construction and commissioning of the ESR, Nolden increasingly found time to deal with the theory and structure of stochastic cooling. This led to the completion of his doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Munich in 1995 on theoretical aspects of a stochastic cooling system at the ESR. He was responsible for the commissioning of this system at the ESR in the same year, and worked on a variety of problems that arose during the operation of the ESR facility, both theoretically and experimentally. Colleagues from the research departments also appreciated his support, in both words and actions, when planning and carrying out experiments at the ESR.
In addition to his ongoing willingness to ensure the operation of the ESR in a jointly responsible position, he also increasingly took on tasks in planning the storage rings for FAIR and in particular their stochastic-cooling systems. Many criteria and specifications of these systems go back to his theoretical work and planning activities.
Until his retirement in 2017, Nolden continued to support the operation of the ESR with all his expertise and commitment. After his retirement, he still visited GSI regularly to discuss current issues with colleagues and share his wealth of experience with them. He was a sought-after conversation partner because he not only brought his expertise to the discussions, but also liked to season his comments with subtle humour.
Fritz’s professional contributions were also valued by many international colleagues, for whom he was an open and competent partner in scientific exchange. Worth mentioning here are his many years of exchange with colleagues at CERN and his consulting work at the IMP Lanzhou.
We mourn the loss of a colleague with excellent specialist knowledge, great interest and commitment in his tasks for GSI and FAIR, who always showed a friendly manner and a great openness to all the problems that were brought to his attention.
