On April 11th, 2024, Prof. Peter Fulde peacefully passed away at his home in Dresden, Germany. Along with many others, I found it difficult to accept this sad news. I flew to Dresden and shared my sorrow with many people at his funeral on May 3rd at the Alter Annenfriedhof in Dresden.

Prof. Fulde's passing symbolizes the fading out of the generation that shaped condensed matter physics of the 20^th century. In many senses, he was a giant. He was a distinguished scholar in superconductivity and electronic correlation, an outstanding science administrator, and an extraordinarily good-willed human being loved by everyone around him: from students to secretaries, by his many colleagues, and of course, by his family and friends.

Peter Fulde was born in Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland) in 1936 in a well-to-do family. But when he was only nine years old, in 1945, his family had to abandon everything behind and flee west due to the invasion of the Russian Red Army at the end of World War II. They soon found shelter at the house of his mother’s friend, on the outskirts of Dresden. This place was only about four kilometers from the center of Dresden, and he and his family miraculously survived the Dresden bombings from February 13–15, 1945, while buildings surrounding them collapsed and burned down. After the chaotic period of the end of the war under the alternating occupations of Russian and American troops, his family settled in East Germany (the German Democratic Republic). After completing his high school education with excellent grades, he was accepted at Humboldt University in East Berlin in 1955 to study physics. However, in 1956, at the age of 20, the ever-increasing dogmatic communism led him to decide to escape to West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany). After a short stay at the University of Göttingen in 1956, he moved to the University of Hamburg to study under Prof. Harry Lehmann, a pioneering field theorist at that time. After finishing diploma on a problem of elementary particle physics, he planned to continue a doctorate degree in field theory. However, Prof. Lehmann advised him to study solid-state physics using field theoretical tools and arranged for Peter to study under Prof. Richard Ferrell at the University of Maryland, USA. Peter said that this advice and arrangement was the greatest blessing in his life and convinced him to listen to experienced advisors throughout his life.

In the US, he finished his PhD under Richard Ferrell with a thesis on his famous Fulde-Ferrell Larkin-Ovchinikov (FFLO) state in superconductivity in 1963. Originally, this study was initiated to explain the experimental observation of the gapless phase of superconductivity, first discovered by Berkeley’s experimental group with which Ferrell closely collaborated. Since then superconductivity and electronic properties of correlated metals became his lifelong research topics. He was deeply impressed by the open academic atmosphere among distinguished scholars and even student-level researchers, and the vibrant advances of new topics in physics in America. However, not long after he engaged with leading American researchers in superconductivity and solid-state physics, including M. Tinkham, W. Knight, K. Maki, and J.J. Hopfield, he decided to return to the University Frankfurt in 1965. In the 1960's, after World War II, solid-state physics, such as the study of semiconductors and superconductivity, was booming in America as a new field of physics and as a potential industry (Fulde was also invited to work with General Electrics (GE) even before finishing PhD in Maryland). However, solid-state physics researchers were severely lacking in Germany and in Europe. Naturally, given his abilities, he was in extremely high demand. During his Frankfurt period from 1965 to 1971, he served as the head of the theory group in the Institute Laue Langevin, Garching, Munich from 1967 to 1974, and was appointed as a director of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1968. He also served as a consultant for one day per month to the Institutes for Solid-State Physics at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center. He fulfilled all these highly demanding and overlapping responsibilities with his characteristic intelligence and integrity. Finally, in 1972, he became a director at the Max-Plank Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart, where he served until 1993. During his period of Stuttgart, he attracted young students from all regions of Germany, postdocs, and visitors from all over the world, and his group became a core center for theoretical research of superconductivity and correlated electron systems in Germany. During this period, he also provided opportunities to physicists in difficult situations, inviting many physicists from Eastern Europe and Russia.

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, he participated in the national project of rebuilding the science institutes in the former East Germany as a section member of the Max-Planck Society. Soon Prof. Fulde was selected as a founding director of the Max-Planck Institute for the Physics Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) in Dresden. Starting with temporary barrack offices from 1993 until the inauguration of the institute's new building in 1997, it was a monumental effort by him and his students and others like Hurbert Scherrer, Beate Paulus, Burkhard Schmidt, Steffen Mallwitz, Kurt Fisher, Ingo Allekotte, etc. to build the new Max-Planck Institute from the ground up. For example, in the initial period, every Monday he would take the first plane from Stuttgart at 6:30 a.m. and appear in his office in Dresden by 8:30 a.m. Prof. Fulde retired from his position as a director in 2007 after designating R. Moessner as his successor. Now MPI-PKS, with three directors, Jan-Michael Rost, Frank Jülicher, and Roderich Moessner, has become an internationally top-ranking institute in its field.

Immediately after his retirement, Prof. Fulde was invited to become president of the Asia–Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) and served from 2007 to 2013. He was deeply impressed by the history and the founding mission of APCTP, whereby “the Asia–Pacific physics community should cooperate among themselves to be a strong partner of the international physics community.” Before coming to Korea, he already had many friends and colleagues from China, Japan, Vietnam, India, and Korea, including Yu Lu, Fuchun Zhang, K. Ueda, H. Fukuyama, N. Nagaosa, Ngyuen Van Heu, G. Baskaran, and Heykyung Won, to name a few. During Prof. Fulde’s presidency, he strengthened the in-house research capabilities of APCTP in parallel with the international academic activities that focused on organizing conferences, workshops, and schools with its member countries/regions. He introduced the creation of Junior Research Groups with seed money from the Max Planck Society, matched by the Korean government. Under his leadership, APCTP became a truly international research center, attracting many distinguished scientists from around the world. He also strongly supported various programs of the Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) that share the same mission as APCTP.

Prof. Fulde also played a fundamental role in establishing the Institutes of Basic Science (IBS) in Korea. In 2010, the Korean government announced the establishment of 50 centers for fundamental sciences, equivalent to the Max Planck Society in Germany and RIEKEN in Japan. This was an immense national project and Prof. Fulde’s life-long experiences in science and administration were invaluable in constructing the framework of the IBS. He served as chair of the Selection and Evaluation Committee (SEC) and later as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Until the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, he frequently visited Korea for IBS-related work and to APCTP as an honorary president.

The entire physics community in the Asia–Pacific region is greatly indebted to Prof. Peter Fulde left us completing his great journey of 88 years long on our planet. However, his legacy will continue and we will remember him as a distinguished physicist, an outstanding science administrator, and as an extraordinarily warm-hearted human being. May he rest in peace.