Hermann Haken (12 July 1927 – 14 August 2024) was a German physicist and professor emeritus in theoretical physics at the University of Stuttgart.

He is a cousin of the mathematician Wolfgang Haken, who proved the Four color theorem.

The interpretation of the laser principles as self-organization of non equilibrium systems paved the way at the end of the 1960s to the development of synergetics, of which Haken is recognized as the founder.

One of his successful popular books is Erfolgsgeheimnis der Natur,[3] or in English, The Science of Structure: Synergetics.

[5] For his wide range of contributions, he received many international prizes or medals, including the Max Born Medal and Prize by the British Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society in 1976, Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 1981,[6] Great Order of the Federal Republic of Germany with star in 1986, Max Planck medal in 1990, Honda Prize 1992, Arthur-Burkhardt-Prize in 1993, Lorenz-Oken-Medal of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Medical Doctors in 1994, and Prize for the Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Medicine and Psychology, Danube University Krems, in 2005.