Helmut Gröttrup
German engineer, rocket scientist and inventor of the smart card / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Helmut Gröttrup (12 February 1916 – 4 July 1981) was a German engineer, rocket scientist and inventor of the smart card. During World War II, he worked in the German V-2 rocket program under Wernher von Braun. From 1946 to 1950 he headed a group of 170 German scientists who were forced to work for the Soviet rocketry program under Sergei Korolev. After returning to West Germany in December 1953, he developed data processing systems, contributed to early commercial applications of computer science and coined the German term "Informatik". In 1967 Gröttrup invented the smart card as a "forgery-proof key" for secure identification and access control (ID card) or storage of a secure key, also including inductive coupling for near-field communication (NFC). From 1970 he headed a start-up division of Giesecke+Devrient for the development of banknote processing systems and machine-readable security features.
Helmut Gröttrup | |
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Born | Helmut Gröttrup (1916-02-12)February 12, 1916 Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
Died | July 4, 1981(1981-07-04) (aged 65) Munich, West Germany |
Nationality | German |
Citizenship | Germany |
Alma mater | Technische Hochschule Berlin (Technical University in Berlin) |
Occupation(s) | Engineer and inventor of the smart card |
Spouse(s) | Irmgard Rohe (married 1940-1964) Christine Storzum (married 1964-1981) |
Children | Peter Gröttrup Ursula Gröttrup Johannes Gröttrup Bernhard Gröttrup Elisabeth Gröttrup |