Thomas Gehrmann, former EMBL Hamburg Senior Instrumentation Officer, passed away on Tuesday 21 October 2025.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our former colleague, Thomas Gehrmann, who worked in the Instrumentation Team of the Hamburg Unit from 1981 to 2022. Originally hired as a precision mechanic, the scope of his activities expanded continuously from manufacturing individual parts to designing complex mechanic/optical systems.

Thomas was a man of few words. He preferred to act with Hanseatic pragmatism, making key contributions to the optics and end-stations of the beamlines at the former DORIS storage ring, not to forget his involvement in the construction of the first ‘Image Plate Scanner’, which was to revolutionise data collection in protein crystallography. Later, he became a core member of the team that constructed, installed, commissioned and operated the EMBL beamlines at the PETRA III synchrotron and many of the current instruments with their distinctive look have been designed by Thomas. His steady presence, quiet manner and determination were invaluable to the team and to the success of numerous projects over the years.

Thomas will be remembered not only for his helpfulness, resourcefulness, and constructive attitude when challenges had to be mastered but also for his dry sense of humour. After his retirement only about two years ago, Thomas remained very interested in the well-being of his colleagues and showed great curiosity about the group’s current projects and tasks. We are deeply grateful for the time we shared with Thomas. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and all who had the privilege of knowing and working with him. He will be greatly missed.”

Stefan Fiedler, current EMBL Hamburg Team Leader

Condolences

If you would like to add a message of condolence for inclusion on the EMBL Alumni Obituaries page, please contact the Alumni Relations team.