News 57 Tribologie + Schmierungstechnik · volume 71 · issue 5-6/ 2024 Gerhard Poll was born on February 5, 1954 as the only child of Maria-Anne and Walter Poll in Schweinfurt and if he had dedicated himself to football, he would probably call himself a real “Schnüdel”, as we Lower Franconia know. The High German translation for this is: Zipfel The family has often changed their place of residence due to the professional activity of his father, who was an engineer at SKF. So, in 1956 the family moved from Schweinfurt to Cologne, where Gerhard Poll attended primary school from 1960 to 1964. In 1964 he first transferred to the grammar school in Aachen and - due to another move in 1970 - later to the Celtis Gynasium in Schweinfurt, where he graduated in 1972. So, he only attended school for 12 years, as he was a victim of the so-called short school years. In 1972, he began his mechanical engineering studies at RWTH Aachen University. During the lecture-free period, he worked as an intern at SKF in Schweinfurt as well as at the Talbot wagon factory in Aachen. After completing his intermediate diploma in 1974, Gerhard Poll concentrated more on vehicle engineering, especially for trains. He completed his studies with the diploma thesis entitled “Force-closure investigations on the large rolling test bench” in 1977 under Prof. Krause. He carried out the experimental investigations for his diploma thesis at Thyssen Henschel in Kassel on the rolling test bench (later Bombardier, now Alstom), from which the final research topic of his doctorate was derived. After graduating, he started as a research assistant in the field of “Wear of Materials” under Prof. Hans Krause, who opened the door to the wide world of tribology for him. Gerhard Poll formulated an application within the framework of the Cycle Rail Research Program of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. The approval was based on deviations between theoretical predictions and experimental measurement results on test benches and in route tests with real rail vehicles. In 1983, he finally received his doctorate from RWTH Aachen with his dissertation “The influence of real system properties on the force closure laws in rolling relative motion”. Tests were carried out in Munich Freimann on the rolling test bench and on the rolling test bench in Kassel. Among other things, he also used a 2-disc test bench that he had modernized and expanded, which his father had played a major role in designing at the institute in Aachen in the 60s. In 1984, he finally started at SKF in Schweinfurt in technical consulting. Here he first devoted himself to the topics of rail vehicles, shipbuilding and aircraft design, then machine tools, conveyor technology, wind energy, heavy machinery and finally electric machines. During this time, among other things, the commissioning of the 1st ICE and the test dismantling after the first trial period took place. A secondary activity was the recommissioning of steam locomotives for the 150th anniversary of the Deutsche Bahn in 1985 In 1987, he joined SKF in the Netherlands, where he worked at the research center in the field of sealing and tribology. The field of work dealt with spherical roller bearings, wheel bearing units, pillow block housings and seals, mostly in connection with grease lubrication and the application of water and dirt. During this time, he also had close contacts with TU Eindhofen (Harry van Leeuwen), University Delft (Joost Kalker) and University of Twente (Kees Venner) as well as Imperial College (Alistair Cameron). His specialties were the optical lubricating film investigations with by means of fluorescence in sealing contacts and the mechanisms of the backflow effect of seals. This was followed by international lectures, e.g. at STLE in Toronto. In 1992, after SKF acquired seal manufacturer Chicago Rawhide, he moved to Elgin, Illinois in the USA as Head of Research and Product Development. Here, Prof. Poll had worked on seals for truck hub units, for seals for water pumps of diesel engines, and PTFE seals for drying cylinders of paper machines. Decisive and formative during this time was a colleague and getting to know her best friend Lu, who is his wife today. Award of the Vogelphohl Medal of Honour to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Poll Laudatio von Cornelia Haag News 58 Tribologie + Schmierungstechnik · volume 71 · issue 5-6/ 2024 In 1996, Gerhard Poll finally became Professor of Machine Elements and Design Technology and Head of the Institute of Machine Design and Tribology at Leibniz University in Hanover, succeeding Prof. Paland. Under his leadership, research was carried out on rolling bearings and other tribological topics, mostly within the framework of FVA and DGMK research projects. In addition, joint projects funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and DFG projects are also organized. The beginnings included projects of the FVA and DGMK such as grease lubrication at low temperatures, grease lubrication of high-speed angular contact ball bearings, friction calculation, and rheological fluid models. Furthermore, work was carried out on rolling bearings for combustion engines and for wind turbines, WEC and electrical load with current passage. The compatibility of elastomers and lubricants was also an ongoing topic. Since 2024, he has been officially retired, but he still advises his temporary successor Prof. Max Marian and gives lectures. In his career, Prof. Poll has published a number of publications, such as the author or co-author of several books, e.g. the book “Mechanics of Solid State Friction”. While still a student, Prof. Krause, his supervisor at RWTH Aachen, left him the documents on the subject of “friction” handed over by Vogelpohl’s widow and the book on friction mechanics was created from them. He has also contributed to the books “Dubbel - Taschenbuch für den Maschinenbau”, “Konstruktionselemente des Maschinenbaus II” and the corresponding exercises. In addition, he is the author or co-author of approx. 350 publications, the last one - for the time being - published in September 2024. He is also the holder of several patents. Prof. Poll has been a member of the GfT since 1997. He was actively involved in the Technical-Scientific Advisory Board, which he had been a member of since 2002 and chaired in 2007. He then moved to the board in 2016, of which he has been a member to date. He is also the chairman of the program committee of the GfT Conference Prof. Poll has always been passionate about tribology and was also very active outside the GfT and founded the conference “Bearing World” as well as the “Bearing World Journal” in 2016 - supported by Prof. Bernd Sauer - and is on the board of the conference and on the editorial board of the journal. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Engineering Tribology. Gerhard’s great role model and promoter is probably his father Walter, who worked as a mechanical engineer in application technology and to whom Gerhard explained the term “tribology” as early as the 60s, which was introduced by Peter Jost at that time. He immediately understood that he had always been a tribologist and explained that he had known this term for a long time, namely from the book “Simplicissimus” by Grimmelshausen. There, the young Simplicissimus was “tribulated” - he got a rubdown. In Bavaria, the term “he gets one bribed” is also used. Through his father, he was born with the hobby of locomotives, water wheels, trams and machines and through him he got to know tribologists and later Vogelpohl honorary award winners at an early age, which has not changed in the course of his further career. You can see the water wheels here at a young age, proudly with the three-phase lock. He also likes to travel by train and he even goes on vacation just to travel by train, e.g. to Switzerland and the family is then taken along without further ado. He also knows individual railway tracks throughout Germany, which he feels like he has already traveled all of them himself. Some characteristic qualities of Prof. Poll should be mentioned here. He is an energetic, creative and enthusiastic researcher and teacher who has achieved great things with a small group. In addition, he also knows how to enlighten his employees in technical discussions with the following words: “Well, there has always been this problem with the railways ...” “and at that time at the railway we have...”. Prof Poll is a good organizer of conferences, symposia and technical discussions and has built up a large network over the years. He is known in the world of tribology both nationally and internationally like a colorful dog and he knew everyone by name. If you want to get in touch, just contact Prof Poll. Furthermore, he is very sociable as you can see and he always has a clear view And if he doesn’t have it, then he knows who to call. He is a caretaker and leaves no one out in the rain, even when things get stormy. He has always stood up for his employees so that they have a job and keep it. This is probably not always to be taken for granted. News 59 Tribologie + Schmierungstechnik · volume 71 · issue 5-6/ 2024 On the other hand, the doctoral students did not have it easy with him either, before presentations at conferences, the already completed presentations were often discussed again AT NIGHT - in a bathrobe, so to speak - and content was significantly supplemented and expanded. But all in all, Prof Poll is a warm and lovable person. Therefore, he is married and has an 18-year-old son. Prof Poll has, so to speak, a very personal relationship with the namesake of today’s honour - Georg Vogelpohl. In 1944, he passed his habilitation examination at the Technical University of Hanover, where Prof. Poll was the director of the institute for many years. In addition, his widow left him many important notes and many of Prof. Poll’s companions are already bearers of the Vogelpohl Medal of Honour. Prof. Poll has dedicated himself to tribology throughout his career. For his commitment to the field of tribology in industry, research, further education and association work, Prof. Poll was awarded the Georg Vogelpohl Medal of Honour of the German Society for Tribology on 23 September 2024.