1. Introduction

Karl Florian Goebel (18 October 1972 — 10 September 2008) was a Germany astrophysicist attached to the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. He had also been a member of DESY, a German-based research center that develops and runs several particle accelerators and detectors, most notably the ZEUS project.

At the time of his death he was managing the MAGIC-II telescope project. His death led to the suspension of the official inauguration date for MAGIC-II, originally set for 19 September 2008.

2. Education and Career

Goebel graduated from Heidelberg University in July 1995 with an undergraduate degree in Physics. As a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship,^[1][2][3] he earned his master's degree in Physics from Stony Brook University, the first degree awarded from work with the Stony Brook Nucleon decay and Neutrino Group's participation in the Super-Kamiokande experiment,^[4] in December 1996. Goebel completed his PhD in Physics at the DESY in Hamburg in September 2001 as part of his work on the ZEUS project.^[3][5]

MAGIC telescopes with some of the other facilities at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?curid=1176185

In 2002, Goebel joined the Max Planck Institute for Physics's MAGIC project,^[6] becoming the project manager for MAGIC-II in 2005.^[3][7] MAGIC-II, the companion to the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescope, is situated 85 metres from its counterpart at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands.^[7]

3. Death and Legacy

On 10 September 2008, just nine days prior to the scheduled inauguration of MAGIC-II, Goebel fell about 10 metres (33 ft) to his death while changing one of that telescope's lenses, leading to the suspension of the telescope's commencement of operations.^[8][9] After his death, the pair of telescopes were renamed the "MAGIC Florian Goebel Telescopes" in his memory.^[7][10] MAGIC-II had its "first light" on 25 April 2009 after a ceremony during which Goebel's brother assisted with the ribbon-cutting.^[10]

4. Selected Publications

• Goebel, Karl Florian (December 1996). "A Study of Particle Identification with the Super-Kamiokande Detector". http://nngroup.physics.sunysb.edu/nngroup/publication_theses/goebel_thesis.pdf. 
• Bamberger, A; Böttcher, S; Bohnet, I; Fernández, J.P; Goebel, F et al. (August 2000). "The ZEUS forward plug calorimeter with lead–scintillator plates and WLS fiber readout". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 450 (2–3): 235–252. doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(00)00274-6. Bibcode: 2000NIMPA.450..235B. 
• Goebel, Florian (October 2000). "Performance of the ZEUS forward plug calorimeter". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 453 (1–2): 230–232. doi:10.1016/S0168-9002(00)00636-7. Bibcode: 2000NIMPA.453..230G. 
• Goebel, Florian (2001). "Inclusive diffraction at HERA with a measured leading proton". http://cds.cern.ch/record/855617/files/hep2001-049.pdf. 
• Bartko, H.; Goebel, F.; Mirzoyan, R.; Pimpl, W.; Teshima, M. (August 2005). "Tests of a prototype multiplexed fiber-optic ultra-fast FADC data acquisition system for the MAGIC telescope". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 548 (3): 464–486. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2005.05.029. Bibcode: 2005NIMPA.548..464B. 
• Mazin, Daniel; Goebel, Florian (20 January 2007). "Break in the Very High Energy Spectrum of PG 1553+113: New Upper Limit on Its Redshift?". The Astrophysical Journal 655 (1): L13–L16. doi:10.1086/511751. Bibcode: 2007ApJ...655L..13M. 
• Cortina, Juan; Goebel, Florian; Schweizer, Thomas (7 July 2009). "Technical Performance of the MAGIC Telescopes". arXiv:0907.1211 [astro-ph.IM].