The German Chemical Society (GDCh) awards the science journalist Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim received the GDCh award for journalists and writers 2020 on August 30, 2021. The chemist received the award on the first day of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) 2021. On the same day, the GDCh Professor Dr. Eva Hevia, University of Bern, the Arfvedson Schlenk Award. A prominent plenary symposium is also dedicated to the question of how future pandemics can be prevented. Further sessions will focus on current research results from various chemical disciplines. In a public evening lecture, the science journalist and astrophysicist Professor Dr. Harald Lesch on an exciting journey into the world of science.
The GDCh award for journalists and writers , endowed with 7,500 euros, honors outstanding journalistic or literary achievements that contribute in a special way to the dissemination of chemical-scientific content in German-speaking countries. dr Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim receives the award, which could not be presented last year due to the pandemic, for her journalistic work, in which she conveys scientific connections with competence and humor. The GDCh particularly appreciates her skilful use of classic and new media formats. With specialist knowledge and enthusiasm, the chemist succeeds in arousing interest in chemistry and the natural sciences in people of all ages.
dr Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim studied chemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. During her doctoral thesis at RWTH Aachen University, Harvard University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, she dealt intensively with science communication and, among other things, started her YouTube channel "The Secret Life of Scientists". Nguyen-Kim then built up the multi-award-winning science channel "maiLab" at funk, the Online service of ARD and ZDF. Her video "Corona is just starting" was the most viewed YouTube video in Germany in 2020. On television, the science communicator moderates the science magazine Quarks as Ranga Yogeshwar's successor and appears on political talk shows, the daily topics or the heute journal for scientific enlightenment. Her books "Weird, Everything Chemical" and "The Smallest Common Reality" reached top positions in the Spiegel bestseller list. Nguyen-Kim has received several awards for her work, including the Federal Cross of Merit and Journalist of the Year 2020.
Also on August 30, the GDCh awards the Arfvedson Schlenk Award, which is endowed with 7,500 euros. The prize, which is sponsored by Albermarle Germany GmbH, honors scientists for outstanding work in the field of lithium chemistry. This year's award winner is Professor Dr. Eva Hevia, University of Bern. With her outstanding work, she was able to show that fundamentally important organolithium and lithium amide reactions can also take place without the exclusion of air and that the presence of moisture can even improve the reaction kinetics in some cases. This makes it possible to replace toxic, volatile organic solvents with biorenewable solvents and paves the way for sustainable organolithium chemistry.
professor dr Eva Hevia graduated from the University of Oviedo, Spain, with a PhD in chemistry in 2002. She then moved to the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom, where she held the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry from 2013 to 2019. In 2019 she accepted the call to the University of Bern, Switzerland, where she also holds the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry. She has already received numerous awards for her research, including the Excellence Research Award in Organometallic Chemistry from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in 2019 and the Corday-Morgan Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2017.
The award ceremonies are embedded in the scientific program of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry 2021. The morning of the event starts with a brand new plenary symposium. Under the motto "How to Avoid the Next Pandemic - Fighting Infectious Diseases of the Future", Dr. Michael J. Sofia, Arbutus Biopharma, Warminster PA/US, Prof. Dr. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff, AiCuris, Wuppertal, and Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Sieber, TU Munich, on how to deal with or prevent future pandemics.
At 5:30 p.m., science journalist and astrophysicist Professor Dr. Harald Lesch on an exciting journey to the origins of the chemical elements. His lecture is about where the atoms of the chemical elements that we stand on, breathe, live with, and give us energy come from. After all, are we all made of stardust? Anyone interested can register (regardless of participation in the WiFo) for the public evening lecture. Participation is free. The access data will be announced in good time on the WiFo website.
Numerous other sessions are dedicated to current research results from various chemical disciplines throughout the day of the event. In addition, a poster session offers young scientists the opportunity to present their own research to an international audience and to establish and expand their professional network. The lecture program of the GDCh career service also provides helpful information on starting a career and career planning. At the ChemSlam, a science slam with a focus on chemistry, scientists or chemistry students present chemistry topics in a simple and entertaining way and show how understandable and exciting - maybe even funny - chemistry can be. And a virtual exhibition in which numerous companies and institutions present themselves offers many opportunities for interaction and networking.
Further information on the Conference at www.wifo2021.de
The GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) ? in a nutshell
The GDCh Science Forum Chemistry 2021 will take place online from August 29th to September 1st under the motto "Chemists create solutions". The participants can expect a varied program of plenary lectures, main symposia, a poster and an industrial exhibition. In addition, numerous prestigious prizes are awarded. Registration is possible at www.wifo2021.de.
As part of the opening ceremony of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) 2021 on August 29, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) will award two special prizes: Professor Dr. Evamarie Hey-Hawkins, University of Leipzig, receives the renowned Karl Ziegler Award. professor i R Dr Petra Mischnick, TU Braunschweig, is awarded the newly introduced Hildegard Hamm Brücher Award for equal opportunities in chemistry .
The Karl Ziegler Award is one of the most valuable German awards in the field of chemistry. It is named after the founding president of the GDCh and winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Karl Ziegler. It is awarded to scientists who work in Karl Ziegler's research areas. These are in particular organometallic and inorganic chemistry, organic and Angewandte Chemie, polymer chemistry and catalysis. The award is endowed with 50,000 euros and a gold medal and is funded by a foundation set up by Ziegler's daughter, Marianne Witte, at the GDCh.
In 2021, the Karl Ziegler Award was awarded to Professor Dr. Evamarie Hey-Hawkins, University of Leipzig. The broad field of research of the nationally and internationally highly regarded chemist shows great parallels with that of Karl Ziegler. Her research includes organophosphorus chemistry, biologically active boron and transition metal compounds, heterometallic transition metal complexes and catalysis. Hey-Hawkins is considered a pioneer in the field of reactive transition metal-phosphorus bonds in metal phosphanido complexes and impresses with innovative research approaches. A large number of patents are based on their scientific achievements. The scientist is also very committed to the chemical community.
Evamarie Hey-Hawkins received her doctorate in 1983 from the Philipps University in Marburg. After postdoctoral stays in Great Britain and Australia, she completed her habilitation in Marburg in 1988. After working at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and as a Heisenberg fellow at the University of Karlsruhe, she accepted a professorship at the University of Leipzig in 1993. Hey-Hawkins is a full professor of inorganic chemistry there and also serves as executive director of the institute for inorganic chemistry and (pro-)dean of the faculty of chemistry and mineralogy.
The chemist has already received numerous honors for her scientific achievements and commitment, such as the award as "Distinguished Woman" (IUPAC), the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony, the University Medal of the University of Leipzig and the Leipzig Science Prize. In 2018 Hey-Hawkins was inducted into the European Academy of Sciences. Her international reputation is also reflected in numerous guest professorships and guest grants, including in New Zealand, Australia and Japan.
The chemist is also involved in numerous editorial boards, award committees and various organizations such as the DFG and the Leibniz Association. She has been a member of the GDCh since 1983 and was a member of the Board from 2016-2019. Today she is chairwoman of the GDCh's Working Group Phosphorus Chemistry chemistry working group, which she co-founded.
For the first time, the GDCh awards the Hildegard Hamm Brücher Award for equal opportunities in chemistry. With the new prize, which is endowed with 7500 euros, the GDCh wants to set a visible sign and honor exemplary commitment to equal opportunities in chemistry. Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (1921-2016) was a chemist and received her doctorate in 1945 from Nobel Prize winner Professor Heinrich Wieland in Munich. After the end of the war she became science editor at the Neue Zeitung. There she met Theodor Heuss, her political mentor, and many other democratically minded people. Hildegard Hamm-Brücher was considered the "grande dame" of German post-war politics. It not only stood for freedom and democracy, but also for consistently value-based action. She tirelessly fought against grievances. Among other things, she campaigned for a better education system and encouraged women to get more involved. In 1994 she was the first woman to be nominated for the Federal Presidential election. In addition to her public offices, she showed great social commitment and received numerous honors.
As the first prizewinner, Professor Dr. Petra Mischnick the award. Above all, the selection committee honored the Agnes Pockels student laboratory at the TU Braunschweig, which was initiated by Petra Mischnick in 2002. The project was one of the first of its kind and, with its role model character, had a wide impact - there are now over 200 student laboratories throughout Germany. In the project, students of different ages and social backgrounds are equally encouraged and their interest in the MINT subjects is aroused. The Agnes Pockels student laboratory not only offers students a place where they can experiment under laboratory conditions. Since 2003, Petra Mischnick's team has also developed more than 70 experiments from various subject areas that children and young people can carry out in day care centers or schools. In addition, experiment kits on exciting topics (e.g. "On the trail of the perpetrator") are lent out and further training courses are offered for educators and teachers .
But Petra Mischnick is also known for her many years of commitment to equal opportunities beyond the Agnes Pockels school laboratory. She was one of the pioneers who made equal rights a central topic in the GDCh and was a founding member and first chair of the Equal Opportunities in Chemistry Working Group (AKCC) in 2000. Mischnick is still committed to equality today and shows a consistency in her attitude, her tireless commitment and her lived values, which also distinguished Hildegard Hamm-Brücher.
In 1981, Petra Mischnick passed the 1st state examination in food chemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig. After a practical year in Lübeck, she passed the 2nd state examination in Hamburg in 1983. She received her doctorate from the university there in 1987 and habilitated in 1996 in the field of organic chemistry. Two years later she was appointed to the Institute for food chemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where she worked until her retirement in March 2020. From 2003 to 2007 she was a member of the board and executive committee of the German Chemical Society and from 2005 to 2006 she was vice president.
Both award ceremonies will take place during the opening of the WiFo, on August 29th at 7 p.m., after the welcome by GDCh President Professor Dr. Peter R. Schreiner. They only mark the beginning of many other highlights and award ceremonies that the virtual WiFo 2021 has in store.
Further information on the Conference at www.wifo2021.de
The GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) ? in a nutshell
The GDCh Science Forum Chemistry 2021 will take place online from August 29th to September 1st under the motto "Chemists create solutions". The participants can expect a varied program of plenary lectures, main symposia, a poster and an industrial exhibition. In addition, numerous prestigious prizes are awarded. Registration is possible at www.wifo2021.de.
dr Edgar Endlein, Executive Director Research & Development, Werner & Mertz GmbH, Mainz, will receive the Meyer-Galow Award for Business Chemistry Chemistry 2020 on July 7, 2021. The prize, awarded by the foundation of the same name, which is part of the German Chemical Society (GDCh). endowed with 10,000 euros. It is awarded for the market launch of an innovation in chemistry that has particular value for society, particularly in terms of sustainability. For years, Edgar Endlein has been successfully involved in the conversion of surfactants based on regional European vegetable oils into sustainable household and body care products and their market launch. The award ceremony will take place during a virtual ceremony and will be presented by Prof. Dr. Peter R. Schreiner, President of the GDCh.
For sustainable use of limited resources, renewable materials and regenerative energy must increasingly be used. Biodiversity must also be respected and preserved in order to preserve it for future generations. Against this background, washing-active substances, so-called surfactants, in detergents, cleaning agents and cleaning personal care products should be biodegradable, have the best possible (eco-)toxicological profile, be plant-based and agricultural cultivation and logistics should have the lowest possible environmental impact. Renewable vegetable oils are therefore increasingly being used for the production of surfactants. However, many of the vegetable oils used do not come from biodiverse Literature, but are based on palm kernel oil or coconut oil.
The use of regional European vegetable oils would lead to greater diversity. However, such oil plants have a different composition than tropical ones: the carbon chain of the triglycerides of European oilseeds is generally longer and, depending on the plant species, the fatty acids contained are more or less unsaturated. Both have an influence on the chemical reactivity and the application properties. For this reason, additional research and development effort is necessary in order to use such surfactants based on oil plants from the temperate climate zone in formulations of household and personal care products.
Dr. Edgar Endlein accepted. The sugar surfactants used, for example based on sunflower oil, are made up almost entirely of renewable carbon. Just like those based on rapeseed oil, they are also extremely mild and skin-friendly, can form stable foams and show strong emulsifying properties. Thanks to his innovative and future-oriented thinking and actions, the awardee has been able to successfully use surfactants based on regional European vegetable oils in Frosch brand detergents and cleaning agents in recent years. Its development and its market launch have a special value for society, especially in terms of sustainability.
About the event:
The award ceremony will take place as part of an Online ceremony on July 7, 2021 at 11 a.m. GDCh President Prof. Dr. Peter R. Schreiner will present the award to Dr. Edgar Endlein , who will briefly present the award-winning project. Originally, the Meyer Galow Prize was always awarded at the end of the year. However, since this was not possible in 2020, the award ceremony will now be rescheduled.
Media representatives are cordially invited to the Online ceremony. Interviews are possible by appointment.
Dr. Karin J. Schmitz
Head of GDCh-
public relations
pr@gdch.de
Phone +49 69 7917-493
If you would like to be included in the e-mail distribution list of the Chemicals Press Service, please write an e-mail to GDCh Public Relations, pr@gdch.de
The Science Information Service (idw) offers expert mediation for journalists.
The Science Media Center Germany provides well-founded dossiers with background information and expert opinions on current scientific topics.
This page has been machine translated. If you have any feedback or comments please feel free to contact us.
last modified: 11.07.2024 14:29 H from N/A