Eckart Lorenz guestbook

I regret deeply the lost of the old good friend Eckart.

When in the early 1990ies we decided to forgo the construction of a single high-resolution Cherenkov telescope in favor of a stereoscopic system as proposed by the colleagues from HEGRA, we met Eckart Lorenz. He was one of the prime movers on La Palma, starting the build-up of the telescope structures there. Eckart contributed personally to all the components of the HEGRA experiment by his unlimited energy and his ability to persuade individuals to cooperate at all levels. In this way different groups with varying scientific and instrumental interests could come together on La Palma in the effort to explore the possibilities of studying gamma-ray sources in the Universe by different methods. Despite the success of the AIROBIC array which he had devised, it became increasingly clear that imaging telescopes had the greatest scientific potential in this endeavor. And, characteristic for Eckart’s visions, he started to think about a next level of instruments with a mirror size that would exceed the then just operating telescopes on La Palma, and even the Whipple telescope in the US, by a significant factor. In this way the energy threshold could be lowered, e.g. possibly down to the gamma-ray energies of pulsating neutron stars. This became the MAGIC telescope which – together with the addition of a twin – to this day is operating in an international collaboration whose father was Eckart.
Even though this and other third-generation telescopes are the result of the efforts of many scientists, Eckart remains for all of us one of the key figures without whom this field would probably look rather differently. We shall keep the memory of this extraordinary individual in high regard.

This astounding man worked closely with us, never fainting, with an unwavering enthusiasm and his legacy will always live in our memories and in his work. We will miss you, GRAN MAESTRO!

Eckart was a wonderfull person, original scientist and warm friend. i will miss him.

Eckart was for me always a reference point and a model to follow since the time of Hegra. His passing is a great loss for us all.

I could spend hours and hours talking about my friend Eckart, but it is more than enough to report a sentence that he liked a lot when new pioneering ideas came out.
"Without Colombo, the Americas would be still unknown lands. Does not matter how much difficult is and how many times we fail, we must attempt because the history is made by extraordinary discoveries".
Ciao my Guru!

Thanks for giving me once a very good lesson about life

Thanks for teaching me some physics, I will keep it in my heart.

Max

My deepest condolences to Eckart's family, whom I was lucky to meet on several occations. I wish you much strength in the coming time.

Julia

one becomes aware of the void, when a great man leaves us