Emeritus Professor of Bioengineering, Brunel University

Prof. Heinz Wolff graduated in Physiology and Physics and probably was the first individual to call himself a "Bioengineer". He has worked as the director of Bioengineering Divisions, for the MRC, at both the National Institute for Medical Research, and the Clinical Research Centre. Whilst serving as the UK delegate on the EC Standing Committee on Bio-Medical Engineering Research, he coined the phrase "Tools for Living", to describe any technology based device intended to enhance the quality of life of anybody suffering from a disability. He also served as the chairman of a variety of committees at the European Space Agency to make the policy for the scientific use of the microgravity conditions on board of orbiting spacecraft. In 1983 he founded the self-financing, Institute for Bioengineering at Brunel University, which he directed until 1995. He is now 82.
He leads a double life, sharing his professorial duties with those of a scientific educator and entertainer on Radio and TV (Great Egg Race and that sort of thing) and as a prolific lecturer. He is now Emeritus Professor of Bioengineering at Brunel University leading a team concerned with technological innovation, which will have an impact on major social problems.