Johann-Dietrich ‘Jan’ WÖRNER

Johann-Dietrich ‘Jan’ Wörner became the European Space Agency (ESA) Director General on 1 July 2015. Previously, from March 2007 to June 2015, he served as Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). He studied civil engineering at the Technical University (TU) Berlin and TU Darmstadt, from where he graduated in 1985. Until 1990, he worked for consulting civil engineers König und Heunisch. In 1990 he returned to TU Darmstadt, where he was appointed as a professor of Civil Engineering and took over as Head of the Test and Research Institute. Before being elected as President of TU Darmstadt (1995-2007), he held the position of Dean of the newly established Civil Engineering Faculty. Before joining ESA as Director General, Jan Wörner was head of the German delegation to ESA from 2007 to 2015 and served as Chairman of the ESA Council from 2012 to 2014.