Heinz A. Staab (26 March 1926 – 29 July 2012) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

. From 1990 to 1996 he was Präsident der Max Planck Society.

Biography

Staab was born in 1926 in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

. He studied chemistry at the Marburg, the

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and medicine in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. Hans Meerwein, Rolf Huisgen,

Adolf Butenandt Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt (; 24 March 1903 – 18 January 1995) was a German biochemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones." He initially rejected the award in accordance with government pol ...

and Georg Wittig were among his academic teachers. In 1962 he was appointed professor for organic chemistry at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Staab worked in the field of heterocyclic chemistry. Staab was the president of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) from 1984 till 1985. He was director of the Max Planck Society from 1984 until 1990. From 1990 to 1996 he was Präsident der Max Planck Society. Staab died on 29 July 2012 at the age of 86 in Berlin.

Awards

In 1979 Staab received the from the German Chemical Society. He has been awarded honorary professorship by the Indian Institute of Science and

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

. In 1996 he was awarded the Harnack Medal.

References

Max Planck Society people 1926 births 2012 deaths 20th-century German chemists Scientists from Darmstadt Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Presidents of the German Chemical Society Max Planck Institute directors {{Germany-chemist-stub