Gerhard A. Holzapfel

Gerhard Alfred Holzapfel (born May 22, 1961) is an Austrian scientist and biomechanician. He is a professor of biomechanics, and has been head of the Institute of Biomechanics at Graz University of Technology, Austria, since 2007. He is the international chair of biomechanics (adjunct professorship) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Holzapfel works in nonlinear solid mechanics, constitutive and computational modeling of fiber-reinforced materials and soft biological tissues including blood vessels in health and disease.

Education and training Gerhard A. Holzapfel received his M.S. degree in Civil Engineering and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Graz University of Technology in 1985 and 1990, respectively. He received his Habilitation in Mechanics from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, in 1996.

Research Holzapfel's research focuses on nonlinear continuum mechanics, constitutive and computational modeling of fiber-reinforced materials, and the biomechanics of soft biological tissues, particularly cardiovascular tissues. Together with his research group, he has combined experimental biomechanics, continuum mechanics modeling, finite element methods, and imaging techniques to study tissue structure and mechanics across scales.

Select awards and honors 2003: Josef-Krainer Würdigungspreis 2011: Erwin Schrödinger Prize 2021: William Prager Medal 2021: Warner T. Koiter Medal 2024: Doctor Honoris Causa from the Institut Mines-Télécom, École des Mines de Saint-Étienne, France 2025: Honorary Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Parma, Italy 2025: The Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics from the European Society of Biomechanics

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