Versatile and hands-on

Even during their studies, what both liked was how versatile and hands-on this profession is. “You don’t get bogged down in theoretical thought processes. Instead the job is about how to solve this or that problem”, Gabriele Hertle says. What shaped her husband most was the attitude the professors at TUM taught him: “That we can solve any problem we face if we only think about it sufficiently enough.” He added a doctorate to his studies and then set up his own engineering office straight after.

HIGH SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY

Up until today both complement each other in their work together. “My husband likes to keep his head clear of all other things when he is working on important projects”, says Gabriele Hertle. She, on the other hand, is a keen organizer, and has the corresponding technical knowledge on top of that. At the same time both feel a strong social responsibility: “We make prototypes, not product lines. We don’t really get development time, yet have to predict that the building, the bridge, the tower, whatever we are building, is going to remain stable for the next 100 years and will serve society”, Robert Hertle explains. As a professor at TUM, he tries to prepare the next generation of civil engineers for this task in his lectures.

In the role of university donors Gabriele and Robert Hertle take on further social responsibility. They have donated 100.000 euro to the capital stock of TUM University Foundation, which aims at supporting outstanding students and young researchers. “It is important to us that our university is doing well. Without our education we would not be where we are today”, Gabriele Hertle states. And Robert Hertle adds: “If it is possible to create a certain stability through private funding, independent from political issues, then this is a good thing and worthwhile. It enables you to face the sponsors from politics in a self-confident manner and say: then we will just do it ourselves. A university of TUM’s rank is quite simply entitled to do that.”