Scientific Programme

Tuesday, 31.08.2010, 18.00 - 18.50 hrs, CCN Frankenhalle

Hans Joachim Freund is Director of the Department of Chemical Physics at the Fritz-Haber-Institut of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. His main research interests lie in the physics and chemistry of solid surfaces, the structure and dynamics of oxide surfaces, model systems for heterogeneous catalysis and nanostructures and clusters. He has received numerous awards including the Research Award in Gold of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and the Gabor A. Somorjai Award of the American Chemical Society for Creative Research in Catalysis. He serves in many editorial and advisory boards and since 2009, he is a member of the Committee for European Research Policy associated with the German Rectors' Conference/Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (HRK), the voluntary association of state and state-recognised universities and other higher education institutions in Germany. 

Monday, 31.08.2010, 08.30 - 09.20 hrs, CCN Frankenhalle 

EuCheMS Lecturer 2010

Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, Michael Grätzel directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their application in solar energy conversion systems, optoelectronic devices and lithium ion batteries. He discovered a new type of solar cell based on dye sensitized nanocrystalline semiconductor oxide particles. Author of over 800 publications, two books and inventor of more than 50 patents, his work has obtained 60000 citations so far, ranking him amongst the ten most highly cited chemists worldwide. He was selected by the Scientific American as one of the 50 top researchers in the world. He has received numerous awards including the Millenium 2000 European innovation prize, the Faraday Medal of the British Royal Society, the Dutch Havinga Award, the Italgas Prize, two McKinsey Venture awards and the Gerischer Prize. In 2009 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for the Science of New Materials.

Sunday, 29.08.2010, 16.35 - 17.15 Uhr, CCN Frankenhalle

Barbara Imperiali is the Class of 1922 Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research in the Imperiali Group is concerned with the diverse aspects of protein structure, function and design. The lab employs a multidisciplinary approach involving synthesis, state-of-the-art spectroscopy, molecular modelling, enzymology, and molecular biology to address fundamental problems at the interface of chemistry and biology. In 2006, Professor Imperiali received the ACS Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, the Kaiser Award of the Protein Society, and the du Vigneaud Award of the American Peptide Society.

Thursday, 02.09.2010, 08.30 - 09.20 hrs, CCN Frankenhalle

Joshua Jortner held the position of the Heinemann Professor of Chemistry at the School of Chemistry, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences of Tel Aviv University. His work pioneered the concept of structure-dynamics-function relations for biophysical and chemical change and had an impact on the development of chemical dynamics, photoselective laser chemistry, ultrafast chemistry, molecular electronics and nanoscience. Among his awards are the International Academy of Quantum Science Award, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Honorary J. Heyrovsky Medal, the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Medal, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Medal, the Lisa-Meitner Award of the Humboldt Foundation and the EMET Prize. Jortner is the author or co-author of over 720 scientific articles and the co-author and co-editor of 28 books. Jortner served as the President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and as the first Chairman of the Israel National Science Foundation. On the international arena, he served as the President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Wednesday, 01.09.2010, 08.30 - 09.20 hrs, CCN Frankenhalle

Lechoslaw Latos-Grażyński is Head of the Organic Chemistry Division at the Department of Chemistry, University of Wrocław.  His current research interests focus on the synthesis of novel porphyrinoids that have at least one of the regular pyrroles replaced by a carbo- or heterocyclic moiety. These new compounds can further be transformed into metal complexes. Of special interest is the nature of organometallic species that can be made from carbaporphyrinoids. He received the award of the Foundation for the Polish Science, the M. Skłodowska-Curie award of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Humboldt Research Award. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry and Macroheterocycles and has authored or co-authored 190 scientific publications.

Tuesday, 31.08.2010, 08.30 - 09.20 hrs, CCN Frankenhalle

Bert Meijer is Distinguished University Professor in the Molecular Sciences and Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Eindhoven University of Technology. His main research interests are the design, synthesis, characterization, and possible applications of supramolecular architectures, with special emphasis on chirality, dendrimers, π-conjugated oligomers and polymers, and hydrogen bonding architectures, and their use in functional materials and biomedical applications. From the research activities in his group, two companies are started: SyMO-Chem, a professional research contract company, and SupraPolix, focusing  on supramolecular polymers. Since 2006, he is chairman of the External Scientific Board of Royal DSM. Bert Meijer is member of many editorial advisory boards, including Chemical Communications and Angewandte Chemie. Since 2005 he is Editor of Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry. Bert Meijer received numerous awards, including the Spinozapremie, the Arthur K. Doolittle Award from the American Chemical Society and the Gold medal from the Royal Dutch Chemical Society.

Sunday, 29.08.2010, 18.20 - 19.00 Uhr, CCN Frankenhalle

Klaus Müllen is one of the directors at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, a post he has held since 1989.  His research interests range from new polymer-forming reactions, including methods of organometallic chemistry, multi-dimensional polymers with complex shape-persistent architectures, molecular materials with liquid crystalline properties for electronic and optoelectronic devices to the chemistry and physics of single molecules, nanocomposites and biosynthetic hybrids.He is Past President of the German Chemical Society and serves as a member of many editorial advisory boards and as an associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  His work has led to the publication of over 1300 papers and he is one of the most cited authors in his field. He holds numerous honorary degrees and has received, among many others, the Max-Planck-Research-Prize, the Philip-Morris-Research-Prize, the Elhuyar Goldschmitt Award of the Spanish Chemical Society and the International Award of the Society of Polymer Science Japan.