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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Wagner, founding member of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS) and former Chairman of the GCS Scientific Steering Committee. Professor Wagner passed away peacefully in his sleep at the Marbach hospital on January 29, 2018 after a long and severe illness.

Professor Wagner was a tireless advocate of high-performance computing (HPC) and its value to scientific engineering. As head of the Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics of the University of Stuttgart (1991 - 2004), Prof. Wagner expanded the institute’s IT equipment, in turn helping to grow its capabilities for measurement techniques that would positively impact research in numerical aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, aeroelastics, and direct numerical simulations of the laminar-turbulent flow transition.

Due to his strong interest in leveraging HPC in his scientific fields, it seemed only natural to take advantage of the HPC technologies available at the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) located in the immediate vicinity. This early collaboration resulted in a deeper relationship, and Prof. Wagner joined HLRS’ Scientific Steering Committee early on.

In 2007, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) brought HLRS together with the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Garching/Munich to join forces and found the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing. Prof. Wagner was a strong supporter and driving force behind GCS becoming the number 1 national supercomputing institution and in his role as steering committee member helped ensure its sustainable success.

Professor Wagner eventually served as the Chairman of the GCS Scientific Steering Committee from April 2014 through April 2016. In the summer of 2017 GCS celebrated its 10th anniversary, and though he was already coping with his illness, Prof. Wagner expressed great pride in GCS' position as a premier international supercomputing institution.

The members of the GCS Board of Directors express their deep appreciation to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Wagner for his steadfast dedication and commitment toward helping forge the connection between German HPC and its applications in science and research. His outstanding scientific expertise was at all times complemented by his exemplary friendly and polite manner. With Professor Wagner we not only lose a strong HPC advocate and expert in the field of scientific engineering but also a highly respected collaborator, an HPC pioneer and enthusiastic supporter and a true friend. He will be deeply missed and will never be forgotten. Our thoughts are with his family.