Anecdotes about Adolf Goetzberger

Adolf Goetzberger also had a good deal of mischief behind his ears. He would show his delight at a successful joke with a mischievous laugh.

In the early years of photovoltaics, for example, he could ask:
"Do you know how you can make a small fortune with photovoltaics?"
His answer was:
"If you start with a large fortune!"

Or when he was faster at mental arithmetic than his employees with their calculators. And when the then Research Minister Andreas von Bülow burned his fingers on the hot Wienerle from the solar stove, he couldn't help but grin.

With a 'wink' and in reference to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft logo used in the past, Adolf Goetzberger created the saying:
"The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is not only big, but also small-minded."

Adolf Goetzberger used his profound knowledge of the law of conservation of energy at the "First International Conference on Applications in the Field fo Renewable Energies" in Simpheropol, Crimea, October 1990. There was no heating in the guest house there and the nights were very cold. But Goetzberger's room had a working fridge! Though - done: he left the door of the fridge permanantly open so that it ran and ran, keeping the room at a reasonable temperature.

The food at the aforementioned conference in Crimea was rather sparse. There was regular cabbage soup and about one chicken per person over the course of the week - sometimes a leg, sometimes a wing, sometimes the neck. The German delegation arrived at the airport in Moscow suitably famished, where the smell of grilled meat wafted towards them outside the entrance. For hard dollars, they quickly bought a few skewers of meat from the street vendors and devoured them standing in the dizzle. 

Adolf Goetzberger was also a keen hiker. Even at an advanced age, he led the group on Fraunhofer ISE's annual hiking days at a pace that some people could hardly keep up with.