Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (born 25 June 1939) is a German scientist and politician (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag and served as co-president of the Club of Rome jointly with Anders Wijkman from 2011 to 2019.
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Early life and education
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, Weizsäcker spent his childhood in Zürich and Göttingen. In 1966, he graduated from Hamburg University with a Diplom in physics. In 1968, he obtained his PhD in biology from Freiburg University.
Career
In 1972, he was appointed full professor of biology at Essen University. In 1975, he was recruited as president of the then newly-founded University of Kassel. In 1981, he joined the United Nations in New York as director at the UN Center for Science and Technology. From 1984 to 1991 he headed the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn. In 1991, Weizsäcker became founding president of the Wuppertal Institute, soon establishing itself as a leading environmental think tank.
In 1998, he was elected a member of the German Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was re-elected in 2002. As a legislator, he chaired the select committee on globalization (2000–2002) and the environment committee (2002–2005). After his decision not to run in the 2005 election, he became Dean of the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He returned to Germany in 2009 where is his an honorary professor at Freiburg University.
A bestselling author in Germany, his English language books include Earth Politics (1994), Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use (1995), Factor 5 (2009) and Limits to Privatization (2005).
Other activities
Commerzbank, Member of the Sustainability Advisory Board (since 2022)
Personal life and family
A member of the prominent Weizsäcker family, he is the son of physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and nephew of former German president Richard von Weizsäcker. Since 1969, he has been married to Christine von Weizsäcker. Together, they have five children, including MEP Jakob von Weizsäcker.
Awards and honours
2000 – Honorary doctorate of Sōka University
2001 – Takeda Award
2008 – German Environmental Prize
2009 – Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2011 – Theodor Heuss Prize
2012 – Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council