Professor Joachim Krautter (1948-2026)
Professor Joachim Krautter passed away on February 4th, 2026, in Neckargemünd (Germany). Throughout his professional career he was associated with the Landessternwarte Königstuhl (LSW) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Heidelberg.
Joachim Krautter was born on November 29th, 1948, in Stuttgart, where he also grew up and attended school. After obtaining a diploma degree in physics from the University of Stuttgart, he joined the LSW as a research assistant and PhD student under the supervision of Immo Appenzeller. He received his PhD in astronomy from the University of Heidelberg in 1978, with a thesis entitled “The distribution of interstellar dust in the Solar neighborhood”. He held postdoctoral appointments at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, before rejoining the LSW as a permanent staff member in 1984. He started teaching at the University of Heidelberg in 1989, and was appointed as a professor in 1995. For two decades Joachim Krautter served as deputy director of the LSW, and briefly as its interim director. After his retirement in 2014 he maintained close ties to his home institute as a founding member and chairman of its Friends’ Association.
Joachim Krautter’s scientific interests focused on cosmic dust, the formation of young stars, cataclysmic variables, and the explosive stellar eruptions known as novae. He was an experienced and versatile observer, who used a wide variety of both ground based and satellite observatories for his research. For example, he collected data with the time-honored 16-inch Bruce telescope on Königstuhl, ESO’s large telescopes on La Silla, and satellites covering the entire range from infrared to X-ray wavelengths. He collaborated closely with colleagues and friends in Europe and in the United States, always exploiting the latest technologies and state-of-the-art space observatories to learn more about his favorite celestial objects. His keen interest in astronomical instrumentation was also apparent in the lectures on observing techniques that he regularly taught to undergraduate and graduate students in Heidelberg.
[He was first author on 85 publications in the astronomical literature and contributed to another 300 over a time span of 44 years. His earliest papers dealt with dust in the Solar neighborhood but he, almost immediately, began studies of T Tauri stars and cataclysmic variables. It is in the latter areas that he wrote many important papers that are still cited in the literature. For example, during his stay at MPE he began a collaboration with Hakki Ögelman that resulted in the first discovery of X-rays from a classical nova in outburst (GQ Muscae) using EXOSAT. He and Ögelman then used ROSAT to continue to study the long lived GQ Muscae and watched it finally turn off. He and colleagues studied the early evolution of Nova Cygni 1992 (V1500 Cyg) with ROSAT and, in another paper in 1996, which is still being cited, reported its early evolution. He wrote an article on the X-ray behavior of classical and recurrent novae for the second edition of the “Classical Novae” book edited by M. Bode and A. Evans. Over this same time interval, he continued to obtain observation of T Tauri variables concentrating on improving our understanding of the “weak-line” T Tauri stars. His expertise in infrared astronomy led him to lead a NICMOS/HST study of old nova shells that culminated in an Astronomical Journal paper in 2002. At the same time he was doing important astronomical research he was also writing outreach papers for Sterne and Weltraum in German. His first was in 1978 on Cataclysmic Variables and his last was in 2024 on the impending outburst of T Corona Borealis. But his most influential contribution to popular astronomy was undoubtedly the 7th edition of “Meyers Handbuch über das Weltall”, which he completely revised together with Erwin Sedlmayr in 1994. This book could be found on the shelves of almost all German-speaking amateur astronomers, and was an indispensable source of information for aspiring professionals preparing for exams.]
Because of his organizational talent and diplomatic skills, Joachim Krautter was elected to important positions on the national and European level. Most notably, he served as president of the (not exclusively German) Astronomical Society from 2002 to 2005, and of the European Astronomical Society (EAS) from 2006 to 2010. The EAS was still a young society during his presidency. He actively contributed to its aim of federating European astronomy by leading the organization of the JENAM conferences, the joint meetings of the EAS with national societies. In 2009 these meetings gained a new identity as EWASS, the annual European Week of Astronomy and Space Science. As president of the EAS, Joachim Krautter also developed contacts with the Klaus Tschira Foundation and obtained financial support that allowed the establishment, in 2008, of the EAS Tycho Brahe price (now Tycho Brahe medal), which recognizes the outstanding use or development of European instruments leading to major discoveries. Minor planet 9761, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, was officially named “Krautter” in recognition of his many contributions to European astronomy.
Joachim Krautter was a devoted husband and father of two daughters. He loved music and traveled with his wife to attend the best opera performances for which tickets could be had. He was an excellent piano player and often gave recitals at his friends’ homes if they had a piano. The collection of wines, especially whites from Wachau, Austria, in his well-kept cellar was legendary. He played golf and tennis avidly, always pushing himself to the limits of his abilities. Starting from his time in Chile, he learned baseball and made a point to attend as many games in the United States as possible. His openness, warmth and humor were widely appreciated by his friends and colleagues. Joachim Krautter’s hallmark was a unique laughter, which could fill an entire office building. His resounding voice will continue for a long time to ring in the ears of those who have known him.
