Hermann Haken (12 July 1927 – 14 August 2024) was a German physicist and professor emeritus in theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is known as the founder of synergetics and one of the "fathers" of quantum-mechanical laser theory. He is a cousin of the mathematician Wolfgang Haken, who proved the Four color theorem. He was a nephew of Werner Haken, a doctoral student of Max Planck.
Haken developed his institute in a relatively short time to be an international centre for laser theory, starting in 1960 when Theodore Maiman built the first experimental laser. The interpretation of the laser principles as self-organization of non equilibrium systems paved the way at the end of the 1960s to the development of synergetics, of which Haken is recognized as the founder.
Haken is the author of some 23 textbooks and monographs that cover an impressive number of topics from laser physics, atomic physics, quantum field theory, to synergetics. Although Haken's early books tend to be rather mathematical, at least one of his books Light[2] is nicely written, for the more general reader, and loaded with physical insights. One of his successful popular books is Erfolgsgeheimnis der Natur,[3] or in English, The Science of Structure: Synergetics.[4] Haken also showed interest in Grey system theory.[5]