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In memory of our colleague Dr Andreas Gaupp

We mourn the loss of our former colleague Dr Andreas Gaupp who passed away far too soon on 8 October 2026 at the age of 78. With his passing, we have lost a brilliant thinker, a valued colleague and a mentor who, over the decades, had a decisive influence on the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and the synchrotron radiation community.

Andreas Gaupp was recognised worldwide as an expert in the generation of synchrotron radiation in storage rings and free-electron lasers (FELs). His expertise, in particular, on how to generate and optimise the radiation using undulators and monochromators was highly valued. His work on the polarisation characterisation of undulators remains of inestimable value to a large user community worldwide. 

His PhD at the Free University of Berlin, for which he received the Otto Klung Prize, was followed in 1980 by a year of research at Stanford University in John Madey’s group. It was here that the world’s first FEL had been successfully commissioned four years earlier.

Upon his return from the USA, Andreas Gaupp worked on a DFG-funded project to evaluate the possibilities of a storage-ring-based FEL at the new BESSY storage ring. In 1985, he became a permanent member of staff at BESSY. From then on, he worked equally in the fields of undulator development and beam characterisation, particularly polarimetry. In 1991, the world’s first crossed undulator was completed and successfully installed at BESSY. This type of undulator allows the generation of either horizontally/vertically linear or elliptical/circular radiation, opening up new experimental possibilities.

From 1985 to 1998, Andreas Gaupp was also responsible for compiling the BESSY annual reports. During this time, he gained a comprehensive overview of the scientific work and the spectroscopic requirements of BESSY users. He played a key role in the two BESSY II studies on the scientific case and technical implementation (1886, 1989), which formed an essential prerequisite for the construction of the successor machine, BESSY II. Alongside these tasks, he made a significant contribution to the development of polarimetry using multilayer optics for the soft X-ray range, thereby setting global standards.

Andreas Gaupp was extremely helpful, a good listener, and made time for staff, PhD students and user groups; he was indispensable to social cohesion at BESSY. He served with great dedication as a staff representative on the Supervisory Board for many years.

His regular cello performances with the Schöneberg Symphony Orchestra (SOS) provided him with the inner peace and balance he needed for new creative endeavours over many years.

After his retirement in 2013, Andreas Gaupp continued to devote himself with great enthusiasm to the commissioning and optimisation of the sophisticated EMIL double-beam tube at BESSY II, in particular the double-crystal monochromator. He found it a great loss that, over the last two years, he was no longer able to continue working with the desired intensity due to health reasons.

With the passing of Andreas Gaupp, we have lost an outstanding scientist and teacher who was highly regarded internationally. We shall greatly miss his inexhaustible curiosity, his constant interest in new developments and his enthusiasm.

Our thoughts are with his family – his wife, his three daughters and eight grandchildren.

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