Gerhart Bruckmann dead

Former “high calculator of the nation” Bruckmann is dead

For 20 years, Gerhart Bruckmann (pictured here in an archive photo from 1999) was involved in all ORF elections as a projectionist and commentator.

(Bild: APA/Herbert Pfarrhofer)

Gerhart Bruckmann, the statistics expert and former "Nation's High Calculator", has died. His family announced that he died at the weekend at the age of 92. The first election projection was carried out in 1966 using a model he developed.

Bruckmann then worked as a projectionist and commentator on all ORF elections for 20 years until 1986. He then moved to the National Council as a member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), where he acted as the party's spokesman for senior citizens.

Bruckmann was born in Vienna on January 9, 1932 and embarked on an academic career after working in the Chamber of Commerce for some time. In 1966, he habilitated at the University of Vienna in the field of statistics - he then took on a professorship at the University of Linz for a year before returning to the University of Vienna as a professor in 1968.

Head of the IHS until 1973
In the same year, Bruckmann was appointed Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), which he headed until 1973. In 1972, he also became a full member of the philosophical-historical class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

For two decades, Bruckmann (third from left) was the "high computer of the nation" for ORF.

(Bild: ORF)

However, the scientist became particularly well known for his work on ORF election days. At its premiere in the 1966 National Council elections, the projection system he developed was a hit - the distribution of seats calculated with it actually corresponded to the provisional final result announced that evening.

Working for the People's Party in the National Council
Until 1986, Bruckmann was responsible for all ORF projections, which he also moderated himself. He then switched sides and joined the National Council for the ÖVP, where he was a member first until 1994 and then from 1999 to 2002.

For the ÖVP, Bruckmann acted as spokesman for science, the environment and, most recently, senior citizens in parliament. He retired from active politics in 2002 at the age of 70.