On September 1, 2011, Ernst Helmut Brandt died of inoperable pancreatic cancer peacefully (in his sleep) at home, as he had wished. With the loss of Ernst Helmut, the physics community, especially the vortex community in superconductivity, lost one of its best-known and respected theoreticians. His profound knowledge and remembrance of earlier work performed by other colleagues was of inestimable value to young researchers and coworkers. If someone came up with a new idea, it was wise to contact Ernst Helmut, since he would give good advice where and when someone had been working on a similar subject. Without exaggeration he also was the scientific good conscience of his collaborations. One of his most notable characteristics was the ability to appreciate the efforts of colleagues and to formulate a different opinion - most profoundly justified - in a nonoffensive manner, encouraging especially young people. This educated style, to be able to praise good results of others combined with a sharp and extremely careful demand on his own work to find the truth in a problem, serves as an ideal for scientific work.
Ernst Helmut Brandt was born September 17, 1941, in Berlin-Kaulsdorf as the second son of the publisher and bookseller Helmut Brandt and Elise Brandt nee Stümpfle. As a child he developed his love of nature and his interest in technical tinkering. From October 1961 to June 1967 Ernst Helmut studied physics at the University of Stuttgart and the Technical University and the Free University of Berlin. From June 1967 to June 1969 he prepared his doctoral thesis under Professor Alfred Seeger at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and the University of Stuttgart. From December 1969 to October 1970 he was a visiting scientist at the Lomonosov University in Moscow. Since then, Ernst Helmut spoke Russian fluently and had many friends from the former Soviet Union. At the age of 29 in 1970 he got a permanent position as researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Institute of Physics in Stuttgart. His main area of work was the theory of vortices in type-II superconductors. Against modern trends, his example proves how fruitful it is if young people obtain a permanent position in science at an early age. The facts speak for themselves. With over 330 publications including 32 Physical Review Letters with a total number of 11,400 citations (one paper 763 times, another 640 times) and a Hirsch (h) - index of 58 he was one of the most successful physicists in Germany.
In 1970 Renate Sprandl and Ernst Helmut married and lived in Stuttgart, where their first son Gerhard was born in 1976. From September 1977 to August 1978 the young family lived in the university town of Ames, Iowa, USA, where Ernst Helmut worked as a visiting scientist. Three months later the family moved to Schafhausen, where they found their home. Their daughter Ursula was born in 1979, and their second son Martin was born in 1983.
Numerous invitations to conferences and visiting fellowships at universities and research institutions followed. Just to mention a few: a year in Newark, New Jersey, USA at Bell Laboratories (1990-91), several months in Brazil (Campinas, Rio, Bauru, Recife), a quarter of a year twice in Australia (Wollongong), longer stays five times in China (including Shanghai), Spain (Santiago de Compostela), twice in Taiwan, and since 1997 at least once per year to Israel, where he had a four-year research project three times with the Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. This shows that he had become an internationally respected researcher.
He developed numerous friendships with physicists around the world where his talent for languages was of great benefit. He also supervised numerous doctoral dissertations in many countries, partly in their native language. In addition to German and English, he had a remarkable knowledge of Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, and Swedish.
After his retirement in September 2006 he continued his scientific work by traveling and writing publications. Until three days before his death Ernst Helmut received visitors at home and kept in touch via e-mail with his colleagues and friends worldwide. His brave and frank dealing with his disease touched colleagues all around the world.
In addition to his important and lasting contributions to the development of his scientific field, to his colleagues and coworkers Ernst Helmut will be remembered as a model for an excellent working attitude and ethical behavior in research.
