Press release: Professor Johannes Wessels to be President of Göttingen University

No. 67 - 20.05.2026

University Senate and Foundation Committee vote for 64-year-old physicist

Physicist, Professor Johannes Wessels, is to become President of the University of Göttingen. The University Senate decided this today unanimously. The University Foundation Committee also unanimously approved this proposal. Wessels succeeds Professor Axel Schölmerich, who has been carrying out the duties of President since 1 March 2025 to bridge the gap until a new President takes office. Wessels’ six-year term is expected to begin towards the end of the year.

Chair of the University Senate, Professor Ramin Yahyapour, stated: “After ten years at the helm of the rectorate of one of the largest universities in Germany, Johannes Wessels is ideally placed to strategically realign Göttingen University. I look forward to working with him and wish him every success in his new role.”

Chair of the University Foundation Committee, Stephan Weil, said: “Johannes Wessels brings to Göttingen University the experience of a distinguished scholar and successful university president. I warmly congratulate him on his election and wish him every success in his new role.”

“I am delighted to have been elected and would like to thank everyone involved for their trust,” said Wessels. “It is a great honour to be elected President of Göttingen University. I will build on the solid foundations laid by my predecessor, Axel Schölmerich, to ensure that Göttingen University is well-positioned for the future, together with its staff, students and affiliated institutions.”

Johannes Wessels, born in 1962, studied physics at the University of Heidelberg, where he was awarded his PhD in 1990. As a postdoctoral researcher, he worked at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, at Stony Brook University, New York, and at the University of Heidelberg. He qualified as a professor there in 2000. From 2001 to 2002, he was again employed as a Senior Scientist at GSI. Since 2003, he has been a professor at the University of Münster and Director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics there. From 2005 to 2006, he served as Vice-Dean, and from 2006 to 2010 as Dean of the Department of Physics. In October 2016, he was elected Rector of the University of Münster and since September 2022, he has also been Chair of the North Rhine-Westphalia Rectors’ Conference. The German Association of University Professors and Lecturers named Wessels “Rector of the Year” in 2018.