Jürgen Dethloff

Jürgen Dethloff (12 May 1924 in Stettin – 31 December 2002) was a German inventor and engineer.

Jürgen Dethloff
Born	(1924-05-12)12 May 1924 Stettin, Weimar Republic
Died	31 December 2002(2002-12-31) (aged 78) Hamburg, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	Inventor, engineer

Achievements

Together with German inventor Helmut Gröttrup he invented the smart card (chip card). A successor of the original chip is now used in tens of millions of credit cards.

Patent

Dethloff and Gröttrup filed an application for a patent on 13 Sep 1969. However, the patent was only granted on 1 April 1982.^[1]

• "Einrichtung zur Durchführung von Bearbeitungsvorgängen mit wenigstens einem Identifikanden und einer Vorrichtung", Patentschrift DE-2760486C2

Awards

• 1997: Rudolf-Diesel-Medaille