The Institute of Computer Science mourns the loss of Dr. Jürgen Perl (* 1944), who served as a professor of Applied Computer Science at JGU from 1984 until his retirement in 2010. He passed away on August 23, 2023.
Perl studied mathematics at the Free University of Berlin and completed his doctorate there in 1971. In 1974, he obtained his habilitation in algorithm theory at the Technical University of Berlin. From 1975 to 1983, he served as a professor of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Osnabrück.
In 1984, Perl was appointed as a professor of Applied Computer Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He played a significant role in the establishment of the Institute of Computer Science in 1994. His research focused on medical informatics and sports informatics, with an emphasis on physiological load-performance analysis and pattern and game analysis using neural networks.
In 1995, Perl founded the Sports Informatics Section (now "Sports Informatics and Sports Technology") of the German Association of Sport Science (DVS), where he served as the spokesperson from 1995 to 2002. In 2015, he was honored by the DVS with the Golden Pin.
Furthermore, he was the founder and first president of the International Association of Computer Science in Sport (IACSS) in 2003 and later became its honorary president in 2007.
With the passing of Jürgen Perl, we lose a pioneer who significantly promoted sport informatics in Germany. He always had an open ear for students and his staff. We will hold his memory in high regard.