Professor Jan Peter Toennies (born 3 May 1930) is an American scientist and former director of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

The Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-organisation in Göttingen, Germany, is a research institute for investigations of complex non-equilibrium systems, particularly in physics and biology....

 (formerly named the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research). He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 of German immigrant parents.

Education

Lower Merion High School

Lower Merion High School

Lower Merion High School, is an American public high school in Ardmore, a community on the Pennsylvania Main Line.It is the larger of the two high schools in Lower Merion School District, which serves both Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. It was ranked among the top 60 U.S. high...

, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania 1948, Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

, MA., B.A. 1952, Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Ph.D. in chemistry 1957. Fulbright student in Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 1953–1954.

Professional record

• 1957–1962 DFG Stipendium with Prof. W. Paul, Physics Institute, University of Bonn
  University of Bonn
  The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
  
  , Germany.
• 1962–1965 Scientific assistant to Prof. W. Paul, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
• 1965–1967 Privat-Dozent, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
• 1967–1968 Dozent, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
• 1965–1974 Visiting Professor, Institute for Physical Chemistry, Göteborg University.
• 1969–1998 Appointment to Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Society and Director at the Max-Planck-Institute für Strömungsforschung (now Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
  Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
  The Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-organisation in Göttingen, Germany, is a research institute for investigations of complex non-equilibrium systems, particularly in physics and biology....
  
  ).
• 1971 – Associate Professor, University of Göttingen; Adjunct-Professor, University of Bonn.
• 1998–2002 Acting Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung.
• 2002–2007 Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Society

Prizes and special recognition

• 1964 Physics Prize of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen
• 1983 "Fellow" of the American Physical Society
  American Physical Society
  The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
  
  
• 1988 Alumni Citation, Brown University
• 1990 Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen
• 1991 Gold Heyrovsky Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• 1992 Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize for solid state physics
• 1992 Max-Planck-Prize of the Germany Research Society and the Alexander von Humboldt
  Alexander von Humboldt
  Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
  
   Foundation
• 1993 Member of the Germany Academy of Natural Scientists "Leopoldina" in Halle, Germany
• 1996 Recipient of the first MOLEC Conference Award
• 1999 Honorary Fellow of the International Molecular Beams Symposium
• 2000 Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• 2002 Stern-Gerlach Gold Medal of the German Physical Society
• 2005 Kolos Medal
  Kolos Medal
  The Kołos Medal is a prestigious medal awarded every 2 years by the University of Warsaw and the Polish Chemical Society for distinction in theoretical or experimental physical chemistry. It was established in 1998 to commemorate the life and career of Włodzimierz Kołos, one of the founding fathers...
  
   of University of Warsaw
• 2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (with Giacinto Scoles
  Giacinto Scoles
  Giacinto Scoles is a European and North American chemist and physicist who is best-known for his pioneering development of molecular beam methods for the study of weak van der Waals forces between atoms, molecules, and surfaces...
  
  )
• 2007 Honorary Doctorate in Science, Amherst College, MA, USA