On 28 April, we hosted a symposium in honour of the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Gernot Güntherodt former director of the 2nd Institute of Physics A (1987-2011).

The symposium featured engaging talks on physics topics related to Prof. Dr. Güntherodt's work, as well as personal stories from the speakers about their connections with him. Ulrich Rüdiger, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, opened the symposium with a welcome address. Stuart Parkin from the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle (Saale) then presented "Memory on the racetrack", followed by Werner Hanke from the University of Würzburg who talked about room temperature excitons in a topological insulator. After a short break, Burkard Hillebrands from the TU Kaiserslautern talked about spin waves and magnonics. Ioana Slabu from the Institute of Applied Medical Technology at RWTH Aachen University spoke about precision medicine with magnetic nanomaterials. Finally, Dieter Vollhardt from the University of Augsburg closed the symposium with a talk on theories in the natural sciences.