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The German „Informationstechnische Gesellschaft ITG (Society for Information Technology) has awarded its “Wissenschaftspreis” to Prof. Gerhard Sessler. The award ceremony took place on November 5, 2018 in the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften during the annual “ITG-Hauptstadtforum”.

According to the statutes of the ITG, the award is presented once every four years for an outstanding technical-scientific achievement that has either contributed to an essential widening of the fundamental knowledge in the field of communications technology or has significantly promoted the field in technological or scientific respect.

On September 7th, 2016 Gerhard Sessler was awarded to Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz). The prize was conferred on behalf of the Federal President and in the name of the Hessian Prime Minister by the State Secretary of the Department of Justice, Thomas Metz. Mayor Jochen Partsch of the City of Darmstadt was also present. The award was in recognition of the lifetime achievements of Gerhard Sessler, in particular for the development of new microphone technologies.

The president of the University, Professor Hans Jürgen Prömel said that the scientific work of Gerhard Sessler has received numerous recognitions and finds high esteem internationally; he noted that with the awarding of the Federal Cross of Merit his scientific work and his personality will receive due recognition.

Professor Gerhard M. Sessler has been awarded the 2012 James Clerk Maxwell Medal on September 26th 2012. The award was presented to him at a ceremony of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The IEEE President, Dr. Gordon Day, and the IEEE Executive Director, Dr. James Prendergast, were in attendance for the event. Gerhard Sessler was accompanied by some of his family and, after the ceremony, they had a private audience with the Duke.

The citation for the award reads “For pioneering contributions to electroacoustic transducers, the development of silicon microphone technology, and seminal work on electroactive materials”

The IEEE Award Information states: “The IEEE/Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) James Clerk Maxwell Medal, established in 2006, is named in honor of the 19th century Scottish mathematician and physicist, James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell laid the foundations of electromagnetic wave theory, radio propagation, microwave techniques, and radio communications. The medal honors ground-breaking contributions with exceptional impact on the profession and the betterment of society, and significant technical and other achievements as evidenced by publications, patents, significant products, and other evidence.”