Klaus Müllen receives the Karl-Ziegler-Prize

Award for life-long service as an messenger for chemistry

On September 15, the Society of German Chemists (GDCh) will award the Karl Ziegler Prize to Professor Dr. Klaus Müllen, emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz and former professor of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. The award ceremony takes place during the opening ceremony of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) in Aachen. 

The Karl Ziegler Prize is awarded by the foundation of the same name, which administers the GDCh. With an award money of 50,000 EUR and a medal in gold, it is one of the highest endowed chemistry prizes in Germany. Prof. Müllen receives the award for his lifelong commitment as an messenger for chemistry. His outstanding research, in which he combined organic chemistry and polymer chemistry and used organometallic agents for the synthesis of organic molecules and systems, received international recognition. Muellen's interdisciplinary work has led to applications in batteries, fuel cells, LEDs and organic solar cells. In addition to his scientific work, he was committed to strengthening the cooperation between science and industry and to the scientific community, among others as president of the GDCh (2009/2010) and the GDNÄ (2013/2014). He is also regarded as a convinced and convincing messenger of chemistry in science and the public. 

Klaus Müllen (72) studied chemistry in Cologne and received his doctorate from the University of Basel. He habilitated at ETH Zurich and subsequently became a professor at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz. From 1989 until his retirement in 2016, Müllen was Director at the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz. He has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates for his research and is a member, for example, of the Gutenberg Research College of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and of several academies of science.