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Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka

Senior Director

Ernst-Pernicka

Ernst Pernicka was born in Vienna in 1950. He studied chemistry and physics at the University of Vienna from 1968 and received his doctorate there in 1976. After receiving his habilitation in Heidelberg in 1987, he was appointed associate professor at the University of Heidelberg in 1995. After professorships in archaeometry in Freiberg and Tübingen, he assumed the position of senior director and managing director of CEZA gGmbH in 2018 and has held this position with a short interruption since then.

He has overall responsibility for the scientific areas of CEZA. He is the central contact person for scientific projects and cooperations as well as for customer consulting. Furthermore, he is a member of the expert pool of the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA) in The Hague.

Academic and professional background

1968-1976

Study of chemistry (minor subject physics) at the University of Vienna, title of doctoral thesis: “Analytical investigations on glazed ceramics from finds of the Austrian-Chemical Asian Expedition”.

1987

Habilitation for the subject “Analytical Geochemistry” at the Faculty of Geosciences of the University of Heidelberg with the thesis: “Ore deposits in the Aegean and their exploitation in antiquity: Geochemical investigations to determine the origin of archaeological metal objects”.

1995

Appointment as extraordinary professor at the University of Heidelberg

1973-1976

Research Assistant at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Vienna

1976-1977

Visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg

1977-1979

Research Assistant at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Vienna

1979-1997

Scientific employee at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, head of the chemistry working group

1997-2004

Professor for Archaeometallurgy at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg

2004-2013

Professor of Archaeometry/Archaeometallurgy at the Institute for Pre- and Early History and Archaeology of the Middle Ages at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, at the same time Scientific Director and Managing Director of the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH, Mannheim

2013-2018

Endowed Professorship for Archaeometry of the Klaus Tschira Foundation at the Institute for Geosciences of the University of Heidelberg and Scientific Director and Managing Director of the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH, Mannheim

seit 2018

and senior director and managing director of the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH

Awards

2007 Science Prize of the State of Vorarlberg (Austria), together with Prof. Dr. R. Krause and Prof. Dr. K. Oeggl

2012 Election as corresponding member abroad of the mathematical-scientific class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

2019 Appointment as honorary member of the Archaeological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Memberships and honorary activities

1977-1985

Member of the PACT study group (physics, archaeology, chemistry and technology) at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg;

1992-1997 and 2003- 2013

Managing Editor of the journal Archaeometry

since 1990

Coordinator for technological and scientific investigations of inorganic soil finds at the international excavation of Troia

since 2002

Corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin

since 2005

Head of the Troia project

2003-2014

Member of the Administrative Board of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz

2004-2007

Member of the scientific advisory board of the journal “Abenteuer Archäologie” of Spektrum-Verlag, Heidelberg

since 2006

Member of the editorial board of the journal “Practical Metallography

since 2009

Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Situation Kunst Foundation, Bochum;

2010-2015

Associate Editor European Physical Journal plus (formerly Nuovo Cimento B)

2011-2014

Member of the Board of Trustees of the research platform VIAS (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science) of the University of Vienna

since 2015

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of IPERION CH (Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure on Cultural Heritage)

Projects

Publications