Inspiration for curiosity and modesty: Claus Jastram

I rarely get personal on this blog. But I feel the need to express my gratitude for my father, who passed away on August 5, 2019. I remember him as a generous and humble person who loved his family. But in the following, I would like to tell you how he had a lasting influence and inspiration on me - and above all on my profession.

My father grew up in a family steeped in technology. His grandfather Carl Jastram founded the Jastram-Werke, which manufactured marine engines and was managed by his father. This gave him and his six siblings direct access to mechanical engineering and engineering at an early age. They took every opportunity to learn: The siblings had to painstakingly make the motorcycle they won in a bet run again themselves. In the process, they learned all sorts of things, such as how combustion engines worked and how to operate a lathe.

He passed this enthusiasm for technology on to me, even though I was more interested in electronics and computer technology. As a teenager, I enthusiastically built my own stereo system and other equipment, while my father made sure that the necessary tools and components were available.

Like many of his siblings, he left Germany after the Second World War. For him, America was the promised land, where he spent 13 years of his life.

He would have liked to stay in the USA, but he returned to Germany to help his brother save Jastram-Werke from insolvency, which he succeeded in doing. He was all the more pleased that I not only got a place at M.I.T., but also stayed in the USA myself for ten years. We had many exciting discussions about the America of the past and the America of today, the good and the bad sides, and much more.

My father was full of curiosity all his life. It is therefore not surprising that he reformed Jastram-Werke by setting up a second company, Jastram Forschung. Research was to develop new products to be produced and marketed by the factories. These included, for example, a large-volume separator inspired by the Exxon Valdez accident, which was later used in many oil spills. Jastram research was sold to ThyssenKrupp in 1990.

I inherited this curiosity from my father, and I have explored a lot in my career accordingly. Systems engineering is the discipline that holds everything together. And my father was also a great systems thinker who appreciated the holistic connections.

We will miss him.