Marvel Fusion: Klatten gets out, chief scientist away

The land sale of the city of Penzberg to “Marvel Fusion” is not yet over the stage.

It has now become known that Susanne Klattens Beteiligungsgesellschaft and “Chief Science Officer” Markus Roth have left.

Penzberg - The Skion holding company owned by BMW major shareholder and entrepreneur Susanne Klatten has left “Marvel Fusion”.

This was confirmed by Skion spokesman Jörg Appelhans on Friday on request.

Skion supported "Marvel Fusion" as a minority shareholder.

At the end of 2020, they would have parted ways.

Confidentiality had been agreed about the reasons, he said.

“Marvel Fusion” will also have to do without its chief scientist (“Chief Science Officer”) and co-founder Prof. Markus Roth.

The nuclear physicist confirmed to our newspaper on Friday that he was returning to the Technical University of Dortmund to devote himself to research again.

He left the management in autumn 2020, he will leave the company on March 31.

At the moment he was released from all tasks, said Roth.

They parted “on the best of terms” and he had committed himself to secrecy regarding the reasons.

Penzberg Climate Protection Alliance advises the city to be extremely careful with notary contracts

In view of this development, Konrad Kurzinger from the Penzberg Climate Protection Action Alliance wrote to the city of Penzberg and the city council asking for the utmost caution when drawing up the notary contract.

"All alarm bells should go off," he explains.

As reported, a majority of the city council voted on January 12th to sell land to "Marvel Fusion", which wants to develop a commercial fusion power plant.

The sale has not yet taken place.

The city is currently working on the notary contract.

The city council should not deliberate publicly on this next Tuesday.

According to Konrad Kurzinger, experts interviewed by the Climate Alliance emphasized that they saw an opportunity for the project as long as Prof. Roth was on board in a leading position.

He also writes that Susanne Klatten stood as a guarantor for financial security.

The "solid basis" that was given in the sales decision probably no longer exists.

Marvel Fusion confirms exit and refers to renowned scientists

A spokeswoman for the company "Marvel Fusion" confirmed on Friday the end of the collaboration with scientist Roth and the exit of Skion.

The spokeswoman said at the same time that “Marvel Fusion” would continue to work “leading global scientists in the fields of laser and nanotechnology and fusion energy”.

She named “Chief Technology Officer” and co-founder Georg Korn as examples.

He is scientific and technological director at the renowned ELI laser center in Prague and was part of the team led by the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics, Gérard Mourou.

“Marvel Fusion” plans to use the laser process developed by Mourou in its own fusion power plant.

The Nobel Prize winner is also "Chairman" of the "Marvel Fusions" science and technology advisory board.

She also named Karl-Georg Schlesinger (SVP Science Strategy), a theoretical physicist with research stays in Princeton, MIT and Berkeley, and Todd Ditmire, specialist in high-intensity lasers, professor and director of the "Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science".

According to the company, a location decision has not yet been made.

“After the positive response to our project in the public”, numerous offers were received from all over Germany.

These would be checked with the necessary care.