Historical development of the Chair of Steel, Lightweight and Composite Structures

The Chair was established at the Department of Mechanical and Structural Engineering of the Ruhr University Bochum, founded in 1967. The Chair for Structural Engineering II was first occupied by Otto Jungbluth in 1969.

After Jungbluth left to the Technical University of Darmstadt, the Ruhr University appointed Karl-Heinz Roik in 1972 as his successor in the field of steel structures. Karl-Heinz Roik studied in Darmstadt, did his doctorate with Prof. Kurt Klöppel and was a professor at the Technical University of Berlin before he started working in Bochum. In his work, Prof. Roik decisively shaped the design and equipment of the faculty. For instance, the construction and equipment of the KIBKON test hall was largely initiated by Prof. Roik. His research focus was the safety, economy and durability of composite structures. The composite construction was decisively developed and promoted through the development of scientific foundations as well as design methods and regulations at the Chair in Bochum.

After Roik's retirement, Rolf Kindmann took over the Chair of Steel Structures in 1990. Rolf Kindmann studied civil engineering at the Ruhr University and did his doctorate there with Prof. Roik on "Determining the load capacity of flat rod structures with spatial stress". Prof. Kindmann's main research areas were the cross-sectional load-bearing capacity and the stability behavior of steel components. He also got involved with the textbooks he wrote for the dissemination of knowledge and skills in steel and composite structures as well as with the development of the RUBsteEl-tools for the computer-oriented design of steel structures in training and professional practice. During the period of Prof. Kindmann as the Chair holder, the Chair was renamed in 2009. From then on, he presided over the Chair of Steel, Timber and Lightweight Structures.

As the fourth holder of the chair, Markus Knobloch has been continuing the tradition of Steel Structures at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Ruhr University in Bochum since 2014.