I have visited Lectron, GmbH (a business entity that is a part of Frankfurter Verein für soziale Heimstätten e.V.) in Frankfurt, Germany at least once a year since 2013 (I did miss an annual visit in 2018). The deputy managing director at the time was Wolfgang Schrank (on the left) who introduced me to the business manager of Lectron GmbH, Steffan Pohl. Both gentlemen were very gracious and spent several hours with me and offering a tour of the Lectron System assembly facility.
In December of 2017 I had another great visit with my Lectron System research colleague Mr. Günther Stabe (on the right). Courtesy of Mr. Norbert Cahn von Seelen, many Lectron System historical documents had been left for me.
Readers may recall that Mr. Cahn von Seelen had passed away in October of 2016. Mr. Stabe and I spent many constructive hours pouring over the new ‘secrets’ of the Lectron System history.
Lectron GmbH production had also moved to a new building since 2016 – 124 Wiener Strasse. The new Lectron System product manager had also been appointed – Andreas Schmidt.
Mr. Stabe and I had the privilege of being invited to the annual Lectron, GmbH Christmas party – a wonderful top drawer evening with excellent food!
Professor Dr. Stefan Bornholdt (right picture below, on the right). He is the designer, in concert with Mr. Gerd Kopperschmidt, of the Lectron System model #1018 – Gene Regulation. What a great evening of fellowship we all had!
Mr. Martin Pohl (photo on the left) was of material help in setting up the various meetings and access needs that we had. He also introduced me to one of the executive board members of Frankfurter Verein, Mr. Peter Hovermann (photo below).
Mr. Stabe and I also met up with Mr. Hartmut Birett (our 2nd visit with him) at his home. Mr. Birett, in 1973, designed the pivotal Funktionsmodelle model for Manfred Walter (the former Braun Lectron System product director who took over the Lectron System assets back in 1972). Mr. Birett had never seen the final productized model before so it was especially gratifying to see him put some circuits together and demonstrate how the Lectron System was able to illustrate neural messaging.
Finally, I visited Munich to meet up with another research colleague Thomas Steiner. Mr. Steiner knew Mr. Georg Greger (the inventor of the Lectron System) personally and as a boy used to take care of Buffy, Mr. Greger’s dog. We explored the building which Mr. Steiner had visited so many times before. The visit brought back many happy memories to him. You can see just a little bit of Mr. Greger pointing at Buffy. The photo was taken at Christmas time in 1972.
While in Munich, Mr. Steiner and I also met up with Mr. Max Gürth (a Lectron System circuit designer who worked closely with Mr. Greger back in the day). Mr. Gürth is also a noted choir director and we stopped to admire a wonderful local choir which sang Christmas Carols in both German and English! What another fun day!