Michael Offermann: Goodbye after 37 Years at the Institute

28 January 2026

Photo: UHH/Lange

Since 1988, he has been working in our electronics laboratory on the 16th floor of the Geomatikum. Today, we bid farewell to Michael Offermann as he enters well-deserved retirement. His professional life has been as diverse as one might expect in research: as the guardian of our measuring instruments, he was recognized by our students in instrument practicals and during educational excursions. On numerous research trips, especially in the far North, he outfitted ships and aircraft with sensors, set up measurement stations in the eternal ice, and deployed drifting buoys. When he started with us, the University of Hamburg still had its own research vessel, the "Valdivia"; later, he participated in expeditions aboard the "Meteor," the "Alkor," and the "Celtic Explorer." In Hamburg, he significantly contributed to the complete overhaul of the "Hamburg Weather Mast" in the mid-1990s. Virtually all of our current measurement technology bears his signature in some form.

Thank you, Michael, for 37 years of dedicated service to our Institute and to Meteorology in Hamburg. We wish you all the best and much enjoyment with the plans you have for the years ahead!