Günter Effenberg dies at the age of 73

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear friend and colleague, Günter Effenberg. Günter, former CEO of MSI and the driving force behind the MSI Team, died peacefully on the 31st of August, just 10 days short of his 74th birthday, after fighting a long and debilitating illness. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.

Günter has been a colossus in the field of Materials Constitution for over 30 years.
His contribution to Materials Science should not be underestimated. His vision in 1984 was to produce a compendium of ternary phase diagrams; 'A Massalski for Ternary Systems'. What started as a project at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart grew into the company MSI, which is one of the foremost sources of information on materials constitution in the world today. His genius was to gather together all of the experts in phase diagram research, thermodynamics and crystallography from all four corners of the Globe, to create the MSI Team, which, under his leadership, has become the largest network of scientists working in the field materials constitution in the world.


We Team members owe Günter a huge debt of gratitude. As his Team we have achieved an enormous amount; thousands of system evaluations, dozens of books. Each one of us has made lifelong friends, and of course the annual meetings at Schloss Ringberg have become the stuff of legend. We will miss his energy and his drive in our work; we will miss that mischievous grin, the twinkle in his eye as we sit around the feuerzangenbowle in the Castle. Günter was the life and soul of any party.

But things move on; they always do, and MSI and the Team open a new chapter. I said a few years ago that the MSIT is really a family. Now, we have lost our Father but it is our duty to carry his legacy forward. We will be in the Castle again in 2020 to continue his work, and we will also raise a glass (...probably two or three...) to his memory.

Farewell old friend

Andy