Prof. Manfred Broy, professor emeritus at the Technical University of Munich (DE), has been awarded the FME Fellowship 2018. The Fellowships are awarded every three years in recognition of technical breakthroughs and pioneering work in advancing, applying, and promoting mathematically rigorous methods for the design of computing systems.
Prof. Manfred Broy receives the FME 2018 Fellowship.
The call for nominations was issued in September 2017, and on 1 December 2017 this process was concluded. In a ceremony at the 22nd International Symposium on Formal Methods (FM 2018) Prof. Broy was announced as being the second Fellow of Formal Methods Europe. After Prof. Ana Cavalcanti, the Chair of FME, introduced the new FME Fellow and explained the selection process, Prof. Manfred Broy shared his insights in a talk with the title “Toward Formal Foundation of Software and Systems Engineering” about his work and scientific achievements. At the end of the ceremony, Prof. Broy was presented with a certificate and medal.
The FME Awards Committee motivated its decision as follows:
Prof. Manfred Broy has played a leading role in education and spreading knowledge of formal methods worldwide, particularly through his sustained involvement in the Marktoberdorf Summer School series, the IFIP WG 2.3 on Programming Methodology, and his active participation in many formal methods events and projects. He is, without a doubt, one of the most distinguished Computer Scientists in Germany and the world. He has achieved excellence in research, teaching, and technology transfer in the area of software and systems engineering. He was one of the first scientists to recognise the importance of driving the research work in the area by the needs to enable technical applications, especially embedded systems.
Throughout the years, the impact of his research has been visible around the world. Collaborators included BMW, Bosch, and Denso Automotive. The Digital Technology and Management Centre that he founded involves 13 partner universities, helped more than 90 startup companies, and has more than 100 industry partners. For all his academic achievements, his contributions to education, research, organisation, and industry, and his leadership and impact on the formal methods community,Prof. Manfred Broy has been awarded the 2018 FME Fellowship.
Prof. Manfred Broy during his FME
2018 Fellowship lecture
“Toward Formal Foundation of Software and Systems Engineering”.
After finishing his PhD and Habilitation, Manfred Broy was appointed to a full professorship in Passau, Germany. There, he founded the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science in 1983 and remained as its dean until 1986. In 1989 he succeeded Prof Friedrich Bauer to the chair at the Technical University of Munich where he formed a world-leading group. In 1992 he became the founding dean of the Faculty of Informatics. In that year, he also became a member of the European Science Academy.
In 1994, he received The Leibniz Prize, which is the most important research award in Germany. This programme aims to improve the working conditions of outstanding researchers. It 1996, he received The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany – also known as the Federal Cross of Merit. This the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation. In 2003, he became a Fellow of the German National Academy of Sciences. That year, he was also became a Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Passau. In 2004 he was elected as a Fellow of the German Computer Society, Gesellschaft für Informatik. In 2006, he became a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, a Member of the German Academy of Engineering Sciences, and received the Bavarian State Prize for Education and Culture. In 2007, the German Computer Society awarded him the Konrad Zuse Medal for services to Computer Science. This is awarded every two years to personalities whose outstanding achievements in technology and science have advanced computer science. The medals are the most important awards for Computer Science in Germany. He received it for services to systems and software engineering. In 2012, he received the The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward excellent and outstanding achievements in the field of science and art to individuals from all over Germany. The order is restricted to 100 living members. In 2014, he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
Having retired from the Technical University of Munich in 2015, he was not content to stop work. He took on the completely new role of spearheading Bavaria’s ambitious aims to become a digital powerhouse.
Prof. Manfred Broy has made significant contributions to formal methods with a consistent emphasis on successful industrial applications, particularly, in the automotive industry. His output spans from profound theoretical work through to practical and applied software engineering. His extensive theoretical contributions in formal methods cover nondeterminism, concurrency, formal specifications, and development methods. Notably, everything at the more practical end of his numerous contributions is informed by clear theoretical underpinnings. This is the essence of formal methods.