Prof. Jörg KärgerProfessional Career1962 - 1968 Studying Physics at Leipzig University1968 - 1970 PhD-fellow Leipzig University, Dr. rer. nat. in Physics 19701970 - 1977 Scientific co-worker, Leipzig University1977 - 1982 Senior scientific co-worker, Leipzig University1978 Habilitation ("Promotion B")1982 - 1989 Lecturer, Leipzig University1989 - 1994 extraordinary Professor, Leipzig University1994 - April 2009 Professor with full chair (Interface Physics), Leipzig Universitysince April 2009 Professor emeritus, Leipzig University
Professional Activities and Memberships1996 - 1999 Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences at Leipzig University1996 - 1999 President of the German Zeolite Association, member of the FEZA Board (Federation of European Zeolite Associations)1997 - 2000 Ombudsman of Leipzig University2002 - 2006 Editorship diffusion-fundamentals.org (since 2003),Microporous and Mesoporous Materials (European Editor 2004 - 2008)
Membership in Editorial BoardsZeolites (1992 - 1997), Adsorption (since 1993), Microporous andMesoporous Materials (since 1993)Honours1978 Gustav-Hertz-Award of the German Physical Society1980 Leibniz-Medal of the German Academy of Sciences1986 Donald-W.-Breck Award of the International Zeolite Association (togetherwith H. Pfeifer, D. Freude and M. Bülow)1993 Max Planck Research Award of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation and the Max-Planck-Society2000 Member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences2005 Theodor-Litt-Award of Leipzig UniversityResearch InterestExperiment and theory of mass transfer and matter conversion in complex systems

Prof. Dr. Gero Vogl, Wien Dr.phil. (Physik, Universität Wien), Dr. rer.nat.habil. (TU München) Emer. Professor

Treats the spreading phenomenon in its universal context

Confirmed Invited Speakers and Tentative Titles of Talks and Book ContributionsBook Editors and Introduction "Spreading Fundamentals", Armin Bunde (Gießen), Jürgen Caro (Hannover), Jörg Kärger (Leipzig), Gero Vogl (Wien)

 Dirk Brockmann (Berlin) 

Epidemics Spreading 

 Frank Cichos (Leipzig) 

Hot Brownian Motion: Experiment 

 Marc-Olivier Coppens (London) 

Nature-Inspired Transport Optimization 

 Joaquim Fort (Girona) 

The Neolithic Transition: Diffusion of People or Diffusion of Culture?

 Albrecht Fritzsche (Erlangen) 

Spreading Innovations 

 Russel Gray (Auckland) 

Expansion of Langu

age Families 

 Detlef Gronenborn (Mainz) G

 and Carsten Lemmen (Geesthacht)

The Expansion of Farming as Seen from Archaeology and Related Disciplines S

 Shlomo Havlin (Ramat Gan) 

Spreading of Failures in the Internet and in Power Grids

 Anne Kandler (London) 

Analysing Language Shift:

The Example of Scottish Gaelic 

 Rainer Klages (London) 

Search for Food of Birds, Fish and Insects 

 Rajamani Krishna (Amsterdam) 

Uphill Diffusion 

 Klaus Kroy (Leipzig) 

Hot Brownian Motion: Theory 

 Ingolf Kühn

 

;(Halle

) 

rsal in

Plan

ts and Animals: Biological Processes 

 Michael Leitner (Munich) 

Dispersal in Plants and Animals: Modelling 

 Philipp Maass (Osnabrück) 

Diffusive Transport in Non-Equilibrium Steady State 

 Hernán Makse (New York) 

A New Class of Superspreader: From Twitter, Cities and  the Brain 

 Christoph Neinhuis (Dresden) 

Transport Systems in Living Organisms 

 Charles Nicholson (New York) 

Brain Structure Revealed by Diffusive Spread of Molecules 

 William S. Price (Sydney) 

NMR Versatility 

 Mart

in Schnittler

/b> (Greifsw

p>ald) 

Spore Dispersal in Lower Organisms: From Model Assumptions to Reality  

 Manfred Wendisch (Leipzig) 

Diffusion Processes in Atmospheric Physics 

 Søren Wichmann (Leiden) 

Language Migration: Empirical Data and Modelling  

This book deals with randomly moving objects and their spreading. The objects considered are particles like atoms and molecules, but also living beings such as humans, animals, plants, bacteria and even abstract entities like ideas, rumors, information, innovations and linguistic features. The book explores and communicates the laws behind these movements and reports about astonishing similarities and very specific features typical of the given object under considerations. Leading scientists in disciplines as diverse as archeology, epidemics, linguistics and sociology, in collaboration with their colleagues from engineering, natural sciences and mathematics, introduce the phenomena of spreading as relevant for their fields. An introductory chapter on "Spreading Fundamentals" provides a common basis for all these considerations, with a minimum of mathematics, selected and presented for enjoying rather than frustrating the reader.