B.J. Habibie , in full Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie , (born June 25, 1936, Parepare, Indonesia—died September 11, 2019, Jakarta), Indonesian aircraft engineer and politician who was president of Indonesia (1998–99) and a leader in the country’s technological and economic development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Brilliant in science and mathematics from childhood, Habibie received his postsecondary education at the Bandung Institute of Technology in Bandung, Indonesia, and furthered his studies at the Institute of Technology of North Rhine–Westphalia in Aachen, West Germany . After graduating in 1960, he remained in West Germany as an aeronautics researcher and production supervisor. Suharto took power as Indonesia’s second president in 1966, and in 1974 he asked Habibie—whom he had known for 25 years—to return to the country to help build advanced industries. Suharto assured him that he cou...