History of the department

In the 19th century, engineering sciences became increasingly important, which is why Werner von Siemens (1816-1892) suggested introducing separate chairs for electrical engineering at universities in the country.

The first lectureship for electrical engineering in Germany was given to Dr. Wilhelm Dietrich (1852-1930), a physicist with a post-doctoral qualification, at what was then the Technical University of Stuttgart (TH Stuttgart), who began teaching in the summer semester of 1882, at that time still within mechanical engineering.

In the following year, 1883, one of the first chairs for electrical engineering in Germany was established for Dietrich at the TH Stuttgart, at about the same time as the first chairs for electrical engineering in Darmstadt and Munich.

Dietrich had studied mechanical engineering in Stuttgart and earned his doctorate in physics at the University of Tübingen, since the Technical University of Stuttgart did not yet have the right to award doctorates. From 1883, he was the first full professor to represent the new "Department of Electrical Engineering" in Stuttgart, which now became more specialized than the disciplines of physics and mechanical engineering.

His lectures dealt with power generation and power transmission, electric lighting and electrolysis. For students of civil engineering, Dietrich gave the lecture "Telegraphy and Railway Signaling", which laid the foundation for later communications engineering. In the beginning, only a factory building in Bad Cannstatt was available as a laboratory for the students. It was not until 1895 that a new building was built, which Dietrich moved into together with the Institute of Chemistry. The first fields of research were "electrical measurement technology" and "communications engineering". In 1912, Fritz Emde (1873-1951) became his successor as professor for "Theoretical Electrical Engineering", who mainly researched electromagnetic fields and waves in machines.

1883              Founded as Institute of Electrical Engineering (IET)
1883–1912    Prof. Wilhelm Dietrich (Head of institute)
1912–1939    Prof. Fritz Emde (Head of institute)
1939              Renamed to Institute of Theoretical Electrical Engineering (ITE)
1939–1972    Prof. Wilhelm Bader (Head of institute)
1972–1996    Prof. Günther Lehner (Head of institute)
1996              Renamed to Institute of Theory of Electrical Engineering (ITE)
1996–2017    Prof. Wolfgang Rucker (Head of institute)
2017              Renamed to Institute of Smart Sensors (IIS)
since 2017    Prof. Jens Anders (Head of institute)

1901              Founded from the IET: Inst. of Electr. Engineering and Design (IEK)
1901–1938    Prof. Emil Veesenmeyer (Head of institute)
1938              Renamed to Institute of Electrical Machine Engineering (IEM)
1938–1971    Prof. Heinrich Hess (Head of institute)
1977              Renamed to Institute of Electrical Machines and Drives (IEMA)
1977–2001    Prof. Hans-Joachim Gutt (Head of institute)
2011              Re-founded as Institute of Electrical Energy Conversion (IEW)
since 2011    Prof. Nejila Parspour (Head of institute)

1936              Founded as Institute of Telecommunications Engineering (INT)
1936–1966    Prof. Richard Feldtkeller (Head of institute)
1966–1996    Prof. Gerhard Kohn (Head of institute)
1998              Renamed to Inst. of Electr. and Optical Communic. Engineering (INT)
1996–2023    Prof. Manfred Berroth (Head of institute)
since 2023    Prof. Georg Rademacher (Head of institute)

1936              Founded as Institute of Electrical Installations (IEA)
1936–1970    Prof. Adolf Leonhard (Head of institute)
1970–1973    Prof. Rudolf Lauber (Head of institute)
1973              Split into Institute of Control Engin. and Process Automation (IRP)
                      and Inst. of Power Electronics and Systems Engineering (ILA)
1973–1995    Prof. Rudolf Lauber (Head of institute IRP)
1995              Renamed to Institute of Automation and Software Engineering (IAS)
1995–2013    Prof. Peter Göhner (Head of institute)
2013              Renamed to Institute of Automation and Software Systems (IAS)
since 2013    Prof. Michael Weyrich (Head of institute)

1936               Founded as Institute of Electrical Installations (IEA)
1936–1970     Prof. Adolf Leonhard (Head of institute)
1970–1973     Prof. Rudolf Lauber (Head of institute)
1973               Split into Inst. of Power Electronics and Plant Engineering (ILA)
                       and Inst. of Control Engineering a. Process Automation (IRP)
1973–1995     Prof. Andreas Boehringer (Head of institute ILA)
1995               Renamed to Inst. of Power Electronics and Control Engineering (ILEA)
1995–2001     Prof. Andreas Boehringer (Head of institute)
since 2003     Prof. Jörg Roth-Stielow (Head of institute)
2004              Expansion with the Departm. of Electrical Energy Conversion (EEW)
2004–2006    Prof. Uwe Schäfer (Head of department)
2007–2010     Prof. Nejila Parspour (Head of department)
2011               The Dep. EEW is merged into the reestablishment of the IEMA as IEW

1955             Founded as Inst. of Energy Transm. a. High Voltage Technology (IEH)
1955–1982   Prof. Helmut Böcker (Head of institute)
1982–2004   Prof. Kurt Feser (Head of institute)
since 2004   Prof. Stefan Tenbohlen (Head of institute)
2014             Expansion with the Dep. Grid Integration Renewable Energies (NEE)
since 2014   Prof. Krzysztof Rudion (Head of department)

1955              Founded as Inst. of Gas Discharge Techn. a. Photoelectronics (IGP)
1955–1970    Prof. Werner Kluge (Head of institute)
1970              Renamed to Institute of Physical Electronics (IPE)
1970–1995    Prof. Werner Bloss (Head of institute)
1996–2011     Prof. Jürgen Werner (Head of institute)
2011              Renamed to Institute of Photovoltaics (IPV)
1996–2020    Prof. Jürgen Werner (Head of institute)
2014              Expansion with the Department of Electr. Energy Storage (EES)
since 2014    Prof. Peter Birke (Head of department)
since 2020    Prof. Michael Saliba (Head of institute)

1958              Founded as Institute of High Frequency Technology (IHFT)
1958–1967    Prof. Joachim Dosse (Head of institute)
1967              Renamed to Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT)
1967–1978    Prof. Joachim Dosse (Head of institute)
1978–1993    Prof. Waldemar von Münch (Head of institute)
1993–2008    Prof. Erich Kasper (Head of institute)
2008–2021    Prof. Jörg Schulze (Head of institute)
since 2024    Prof. Alwin Daus  (Head of institute)

1960             Founded as Inst. of Communications and Data Processing (IND)
1960–1980   Prof. Alfred Lotze (Head of institute)
1981–2002   Prof. Paul. J. Kühn (Head of institute)
2002             Renamed to Inst. of Comm. Networks and Computer Systems (IKR)
2002–2009   Prof. Paul. J. Kühn (Head of institute)
since 2009   Prof. Andreas Kirstädter (Head of institute)

1967              Founded as Institute of Radio Frequency Technology (IHF)
1967–1986    Prof. Alois Egger (Head of institute)
1986–2005    Prof. Friedrich M. Landstorfer (Head of institute)
2005–2008    Prof. Thomas Eibert (Head of institute)
since 2011     Prof. Jan Hesselbarth (Head of institute)

1971              Spin-off from ITE as Inst. of Network and Systems Theory (INS)
1971–1998    Prof. Ernst Lüder (Head of institute)
1999              Renamed to Inst. of System Theory and Screen Technology (ISB)
2001              Two new chairs were appointed at the ISB:
                      Laboratory for Screen Technology (LfB)
                      and Chair for System Theory and Screen Technology (LSS)
2001-2011      Prof. Bin Yang (Co-Head of institute ISB and Chair LSS)
2011               Split of ISB into Inst. of Signal Process. and System Theory (ISS)
                      and Institute of Large Area Microelectronics (IGM)
since 2011     Prof. Bin Yang (Head of institute ISS)

1991              Start-up of  Laboratory for Screen Technology (LfB) within INS
1991–1998    Prof. Ernst Lüder (Head of Laboratory)
1999              Continuance of the LfB within ISB
2001              Two new chairs were appointed at the ISB:
                      Laboratory for Screen Technology (LfB)
                      and Chair for System Theory and Screen Technology (LSS)
2001–2011    Prof. Norbert Frühauf (Co-head of institute ISB and Chair LfB)
2011              Split of ISB into Inst. of Large Area Microelectronics (IGM)
                      and Institute of Signal Processing and System Theory (ISS)
since 2011    Prof. Norbert Frühauf (Head of institute IGM)

2006–2024   Prof. Joachim N. Burghartz (Head of institute)

since 2013     Prof. Ingmar Kallfass (Head of institute)