Wubbo Ockels

“High altitude wind power, from the early days until today”

Prof. Dr. Wubbo Johannes Ockels is a Dutch physicist and a former ESA astronaut. In 1985 he participated in a flight on a space shuttle, making him the first Dutch citizen in space. He currently is a professor of Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and Technology at the Delft University of Technology, and the driving force behind the “Laddermill”, among a variety of other projects.

Wubbo Ockels was born March 28, 1946, and obtained his MSc degree in 1973 and subsequently a PhD degree in physics and mathematics in 1978 from the University of Groningen. His thesis was based on experimental work at the Nuclear-physics Accelerator Institute (KVI) in Groningen.