Gerhard K. Ackermann received his Ph.D. degree in astronomy from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He then accepted a post with IBM in Germany and the United States, working in research and development. Here, he discovered the 'Narrow Channel Effect' within MOS-FET. In 1976, he accepted a professorship for physics at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, where he later became Dean of the faculty of mathematics and physics and finally president of the University, which he remained until his retirement in 2002. Professor Ackermann taught and researched at laboratories and universities in Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and New York, and is still active working in holography. He is member of various societies, amongst others of the Russian Academy of Sciences.