Symanzik born in Lyck, East Prussia, childhood in Königsberg. Studied physics from 1946 at Munich, switched to Göttingen with Heisenberg. Collaborated with Zimmermann and Lehmann. Earned PhD in 1954 on Schwinger functional in quantum field theory. Taught at Princeton and CERN. Held full professorship at New York Courant Institute until 1968. Moved to Hamburg DESY in 1968. Died in Hamburg. Known for LSZ reduction formula and Callan-Symanzik equation. Contributed to non-perturbative quantum field theory via Feldverein group. Advanced Euclidean quantum field theory. Shifted interests to lattice gauge theory since 1970. Awarded Max Planck medal in 1981.