The Bavarian Minister-President Dr. Markus Söder has awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit to Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. mult. Ulrich L. Rohde, Honorary Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (BAdW).
The award is considered a "sign of grateful recognition for outstanding scientific achievements and services to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people." Through his life's work, Ulrich L. Rohde serves as an outstanding scientific ambassador for Bavaria around the world. He has rendered exceptional services to the Free State of Bavaria and its reputation as a center of science through his scientific and social contributions.
Minister-President Markus Söder on Platform X spoke about Ulrich L. Rohde: "Award for a universal genius: The Bavarian Order of Merit for Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. mult. Ulrich Rohde! This honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences has achieved outstanding achievements with the utmost intelligence on so many levels in science and teaching, in business and in the promotion of young scientists. His name is a global household name in high frequency and microwave technology. He has helped make state-of-the-art communications possible in the first place — from space travel to 5G, from defense technology to medical and photographic technology. As the holder of more than 50 patents of his own and a professor at five international universities, Professor Rohde has made an enormous contribution to the technological progress, prosperity and security of our country! For his extraordinary life's work, he receives the most exclusive award Bavaria has to offer — the Bavarian Order of Merit. There are a maximum of 2,000 living recipients of this order. A heartfelt thank you for this outstanding commitment!"
"I accept the award with gratitude and respect. I am very pleased about the recognition of my life's work that this award represents," said Rohde. "My close connection to my Bavarian homeland, but above all to the local research community, has always been an important element of my values and my scientific work. I make my contribution to the progress and prosperity of Bavaria out of conviction and without claiming any special merit."
Rohde's scientific focus is on high frequency and microwave technology. His work primarily concerns the theory, mathematical representation and practical implementation of low-noise, highly linear microwave circuits in electronics. Since 1962, he has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, approximately 150 scientific articles and conference contributions, and six textbooks with John Wiley and Springer Verlag. In 1982, Professor Rohde and his team at RCA proposed and demonstrated a process now known as "Software Defined Radio (SDR – signal processing technology). This process is now successfully used in all modern radio and communications devices, as well as all smartphones.
In 2025, the Pioneer Award of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, sponsored by the Ulrich L. Rohde Foundation, was awarded for the first time to Prof. Gerhard Fettweis upon the recommendation of the selection committee. This award recognizes outstanding researchers for outstanding technological achievements that have also had a broad social impact. With a prize of €300,000, it is the most highly endowed prize for a winner in the field of radio-frequency communications engineering in Germany.