DFG President from 1974 to 1979

Curriculum Vitae

Heinz Maier-Leibnitz was born in Esslingen/Neckar on 28 March 1911 and studied physics at Stuttgart and Göttingen. He received his doctorate in 1935 with a study on nuclear physics and then worked until 1952 at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. From 1952, Maier-Leibnitz held the Chair of Technical Physics at the Technical University Munich. From 1967 to 1972, he served as the first Director of the Franco-German Max von Laue - Paul Langevin Institute in Grenoble, which he co-initiated. He died in Allensbach/Lake Constance on 16 December 2000 at the age of 89.

Positions, Memberships and Distinctions

• 1972-1973 Member of the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat)
• 1972-1975 President of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics
• 1973-1974 Chairman of the Association of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte)
• 1973-1983 Founding Council of the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens Foundation
• 1974-1979 President of the DFG

Membership

Leopoldina in Halle, various academies of sciences and humanities (Heidelberg, Bavaria, Flanders, India, Sweden, Finland, France and Austria); also Member of the Royal Swedish Society of Sciences

Distinctions

Carus Medal of the German Academy of Natural Scientists/Leopoldina (Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher/Leopoldina) (1971), Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz) (1972), member and later Chancellor (1979-1984) of the Order Pour le mérite for Scientists and Artists (Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaft und Künste), Freiherr vom Stein Prize (1980), Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (Bayerischer Maximiliansorden) (1981), Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt (1984), Wilhelm Exner Medal (1985), Otto Hahn Prize for Chemistry und Physics (1986), Lorenz Oken Medal (1988), German Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder-Band (Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband) (1991), Medal of Merit of the State of Baden Wurttemberg (1995), Stern Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft) (1996)

Honorary doctorates

University of Vienna (1965), University of Grenoble (1966), University of Reading (1973)

Major Research Fields and Publications

Experimental physics, nuclear physics

Major Publications

• An der Grenze zum Neuen. Rollenverteilung zwischen Forschern und Politikern in der Gesellschaft (1977)
• Zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik. Ausgewählte Reden und Aufsätze 1974-79 (1980)
• Kochbuch für Füchse (1980; revised and extended ed. 1991)
• Der geteilte Plato. Ein Atomphysiker zum Streit um den Fortschritt (1981)
• Streitbriefe über Kernenergie (co-editor, 1982; new ed. 1987)
• Zeugen des Wissens (Hrsg., 1986)Mikrowellen_Kochkurs für Füchse (1986)
• Lernschock Tschernobyl (1986)
• Tschernobyl und die Folgen (1987)
• Zweifel am Verstand (with Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 1989)

Further Information

Additional Information on the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize:

• Research Funding > Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize