Heilbronn news 7/26 – "We are creating the new way of thinking"
Since January, Joachim Buhmann, professor emeritus of computer science, has been the academic director of ETH Zurich's Heilbronn campus. In this interview, he talks about the ideas he is pursuing in this role and what he means by the new way of thinking.?
What went through your mind when you first heard about the donation from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation and ETH Zurich's plans for Heilbronn?
Joachim Buhmann: A bold plan! But also: what do we want to achieve there? I don't think it can be about achieving more of the same in Heilbronn. The campus offers ETH Zurich the opportunity to tackle new research topics and try out new forms of teaching. Of course, the globally recognised quality standards of our university must be maintained.
What topics do you have in mind?
The topics will become clear in the coming months. They depend largely on the appointments of professors. However, the theme has been decided: "Applied Artificial Intelligence for Science and Engineering". This field is currently undergoing a revolution that is turning everything upside down. Science is being fundamentally rewritten today. Machine learning is significantly expanding our ability to make relevant statements about the future.
Can you elaborate on that?
Take mathematics: it is the science that can predict the future most accurately. Because when it proves something and it is correct, it is valid forever. Ultimately, however, life is not about this mathematical precision. In order to be able to act, we strive to capture the real world in models. In doing so, we try to use our brains to access reality. This interface has now been given a co-processor in the form of machine learning. Before the invention of the computer, researchers had to be able to memorise their models and theories. Thanks to new technical possibilities, we can now implement things that we no longer understand. But we can control them.
What are you thinking of?
Our current scientific dreams, such as personalised medicine, individualised learning and teaching, but also social models that incorporate the behaviour of individuals, are taking shape. With modern deep learning systems, complex chains of reasoning can be tested or even found for mathematical research questions. According to experts, systems such as AlphaEvolve, AlphaGeometry and Gemini 3 Deep Think are already increasing the productivity of research mathematicians tenfold.
Joachim Buhmann was a full professor of computer science at ETH Zurich from 2003 to 2024. Prior to that, he spent ten years as a professor of practical computer science at the University of Bonn. His research interests include pattern recognition and data analysis, which also encompasses machine learning. He already held an important administrative position as Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs from 2014 to 2018. Buhmann was also a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2017 until his retirement.
What role should the Heilbronn campus play in this new world?
Our vision is: we are creating the new way of thinking. Because the revolution brought about by machine learning encompasses all thinking. Even thinking about the physical world is now dominated by it. In the past, we had to understand a problem at least at the relevant levels in order to be able to control it. To do this, we bring reality into the laboratory, clean it up and then examine highly distilled questions. What we learn in the laboratory only gives us an idea of the real world. So we have to solve the problem again in practice. The insights from theory help us to do this. That has changed with technology. Today, in order for us to control a problem, the computer has to understand it – whatever that means.
And what does that mean for science?
We must learn to describe the new technology using familiar methods of knowledge acquisition. Essentially, this boils down to the question of how algorithms are validated. How do we prove that the algorithm used is appropriate for the problem specification and delivers exactly the desired prediction? If our specification is flawed, we create a distortion of reality. So how do we validate that we are correctly mapping the essential characteristics of reality or that the remaining difference is irrelevant? And this question has not yet been resolved.
“Specifically, I will be involved in setting up teaching at the Heilbronn campus. This also includes?participating?in the recruitment process to ensure a certain thematic coherence.”Prof. em. Dr. Joachim M. Buhmann
Let's talk about your role as academic director in Heilbronn. What are your most important tasks there?
The most important one is to help shape the vision for the ETH Zurich 365体育官网_365体育备用【手机在线】 Heilbronn. I see myself more as a coordinator than a director. So it's about convincing people. Specifically, I will be involved in setting up teaching at the Heilbronn campus. This also includes participating in the recruitment process to ensure a certain thematic coherence. Internally, the task will also be to anchor the ETH spirit in Heilbronn. With regard to partner institutions, the question arises as to how we position ourselves in Baden-Württemberg. There is Cyber Valley, the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, the University of Stuttgart and the Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe, to name but a few. And then there is the manufacturing industry in Baden-Württemberg as a sales market for educational services.
What attracted you to the position?
The opportunity to make a difference once again in a field that is undergoing a revolution and that I consider my intellectual home is, of course, unique. In addition to my professional expertise, the fact that I am Swabian, albeit from further south – from Friedrichshafen – probably also played a role. After all, I joined Heilbronn quite early on. Managing Director Michele De Lorenzi asked me back in December 2024 to collaborate on a summer school on machine learning. This took place in June 2025 and was quite a success. Then, in the autumn of last year, ETH President Jo?l Mesot approached me specifically about getting involved in this project.
What exactly is to be created in Heilbronn?
We are talking about the ETH Zurich 365体育官网_365体育备用【手机在线】 Heilbronn. This encompasses infrastructure, research, teaching and knowledge transfer. What the structure will ultimately look like remains to be seen. It is helpful for those involved to think in certain categories. Personally, I had a prototype department in mind, but now I prefer to talk about a prototype administration, because it doesn't have to turn into a department like those in Zurich. I think we have to let the whole thing evolve. That also applies to my role. If we find someone early on who is suitable as the founding head of the administration, they are welcome to take over my responsibilities.
What are the success factors for Heilbronn?
I think the vision is crucial at the very beginning. I am convinced that we can attract internationally renowned professors to Heilbronn. They know what they are good at individually and what contribution they can make to teaching. In addition, they should be given enough influence to make a difference. The easiest way to achieve this is in a group that strikes a reasonable balance between diversity and coherence. A common understanding is an essential prerequisite for coherence.
How is the work divided between the managing director and the school management delegate?As Associate Vice President for ETH Zürich 365体育官网_365体育备用【手机在线】 Heilbronn, Boris Zürcher has strategic responsibility for the planning, management and further development of this important future project for ETH Zurich. In my day-to-day work, I will mainly be collaborating with the managing director, Michele De Lorenzi. I expect that I will spend part of my working time physically in Heilbronn.. A presence on site is essential for academic coordination and to establish the ETH culture. However, I do not want to move to Heilbronn permanently. We have eight grandchildren, with whom I have been spending some time since my retirement. Six of them live in the immediate vicinity of our Zurich neighbourhood, and I do not want to miss out on this happiness.
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