The swimming professor

Chemistry professor Andreas Fath from Furtwangen University in the Black Forest is passionate about swimming, research and protecting our waterways. In 2014, the former competitive swimmer came up with an idea for how to combine these passions: he swam the entire length of the Rhine - over 1,200 kilometres - in a bid to draw attention to the problem of microplastics pollution. He took water samples along the way, in some cases using a filter membrane on his wetsuit, and then analysed them with his team. “Feeling on your own body how the water behaves at a particular point contributes to this knowledge,” says the 60-year-old. This is because the concentration of microplastics is affected by currents, water depth, weirs, locks and shipping traffic. Even though rivers in Germany and the EU are much cleaner these days than they were when Fath was a child, the tiny particles pose a growing threat to ecosystems and human health. 

Fath’s “Swim for Science” resulted in environmental associations, NGOs and universities contacting him about further projects. In 2022, Fath jumped into the Danube at Sigmaringen - and managed to swim all the way to the Black Sea in just two months. The only time he remained on his support vessel was near Belgrade, where pollution levels in the river were too high. “This sparked a huge media response in Serbia. Hardly anyone knew about the pollution, which is due to a lack of sewage treatment plants,” he explains.  

In 2024, Andreas Fath swam the Elbe from its source to the North Sea. His swims are accompanied by seminars, clean-up initiatives and workshops. “When I get out of the water after eight hours and find myself facing a group of wide-eyed children thirsty for knowledge, I am reminded of why I put myself through it,” he says. As president of the association H2Org - for a plastic-free nature, he regularly takes his interactive “Knowledge Workshop” into schools to raise young people’s awareness of the need to protect waterways and of the danger posed by plastic waste.  

The Ganges: the next challenge 

In October 2025, the swimming professor will be embarking on his next challenge: Fath will swim certain stretches of the Ganges - wherever this is possible without too great a risk to his health. Along the way, he plans among other things to give talks at the Goethe-Institut New Delhi and at Furtwangen University’s partner universities in India. In the next few days Fath’s book “Aus Liebe zum Wasser” (For Love of the Water) will be published, in which he sheds light on many aspects relating to his favourite subject - from the unique significance of the resource that is water to unanswered research questions and his own personal experiences. “Whenever I don’t feel well, either mentally or physically, I go swimming for an hour,” says Andreas Fath. “Afterwards I always feel like a man reborn.”