MSC Keynote Speaker
Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Sommer
Division Director, Chemical Physics & Explosion Protection Division in the Physikalisch- Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany
Thursday March 22, 2012 12:15PM
Dr. Klaus-Dieter Sommer is a Visiting Lecturer, Faculties Mechanical Engineering and Life Sciences, Braunschweig Technical University, and an Honorary Professor, Faculty of Engineering for Measurement Techniques, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
His contributions to the metrological community have been significant throughout his career including leading roles in numerous international metrological organizations, scientific organizations and committees, advisory councils, and metrology accreditation bodies.
Dr. Klaus-Dieter Sommer is the Vice-President of the EURO-ASIAN Cooperation of National Metrological Institutions (COOMET) and Chairperson of IMEKO TC 20 (Energy Measurement).
As Vice-President of COOMET, he coordinates activities on developing the basic metrological infrastructure in COOMET Member Countries. He also coordinates activities on training and skill improvement. Additionally, he is involved with the application of information technology and coordinates common research projects. IMEKO is a non-governmental federation of 39 Member
Organizations individually concerned with the advancement of measurement technology. IMEKO TC 20 (Energy Measurement) was re-established in May 2010 with its new objective of providing an international forum of effective collaboration in Energy Measurement and energy-related metrology. The first major activity of TC20 was the "Joint IMEKO TC 11-TC19-TC20 International Symposium on Metrological Infrastructure, Environment and Energy Measurements" held in June 2011 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
His keynote will address big-picture issues for humanity, known as Great Challenges, which involve topics, such as energy, the environment, health care, the impact of an aging society, reliable food and nutrition supply, safety and security, maintaining and developing individual mobility, and global trade. The innovation and development of technologies, such as nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, IT and cyber-physical solutions, and the mastering of complex and widely distributed systems, also present Great Challenges that must be considered.
A stable measurement-science foundation, based on traceability, provides a way to face and solve these challenges. This keynote will elaborate on expected near-future technology-driven developments of measurement and metrology to illustrate the need for advancing measurement science (exceeding our own limits). It is suggested that one way to advance measurement science is to expand the traditional vocabulary of metrology and make it consistent with the industrial development of measurement and (at least) the automatic-control theory.
Such efforts will require compiling and developing a consistent mathematical and computational toolbox for easy use in measurement and developing a set of useful modeling approaches that may cover the majority of measurement tasks. Such efforts aim to answer the question of whether the current system theory of measurement needs revision. A key question to consider: What will be the role of the new SI for measurement science?