Wolfgang Krätschmer
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Krätschmer is a German physicist.
Krätschmer studied physics in Berlin. After his Diplom
he went to the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
in Heidelberg
and earned his PhD there in 1971 with a thesis on artificially etched tracks of accelerated heavy ions in quartz
. In his career, he has worked on cosmic-ray heavy-ion tracks in lunar samples, as well as infrared and UV spectra of interstellar dust.
Together with his PhD student Konstantinos Fostiropoulos and with Donald Huffman from the University of Arizona
he developed a procedure for the synthesis of fullerene
s. This procedure was the first to produce fullerenes in large amounts for chemical experiments. Since 1993 he is an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at the University of Heidelberg.
Krätschmer studied physics in Berlin. After his Diplom
Diplom
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland , Greece, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine...
he went to the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik is aresearch institute in Heidelberg, Germany.The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft , an independent, non-profit research organization. The Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics has been founded in 1958 under the...
in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and earned his PhD there in 1971 with a thesis on artificially etched tracks of accelerated heavy ions in quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
. In his career, he has worked on cosmic-ray heavy-ion tracks in lunar samples, as well as infrared and UV spectra of interstellar dust.
Together with his PhD student Konstantinos Fostiropoulos and with Donald Huffman from the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
he developed a procedure for the synthesis of fullerene
Fullerene
A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in association football. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes...
s. This procedure was the first to produce fullerenes in large amounts for chemical experiments. Since 1993 he is an honorary professor ("Honorarprofessor") at the University of Heidelberg.
Honors
- 1992 - Stern-Gerlach Prize
- 1993 - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz PrizeGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz PrizeThe Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is a research prize awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft every year since 1985 to scientists working in Germany. This highest German research prize consists of a research grant of 2.5 million euro, to be used within seven years...
- 1994 - Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize
- 2002 - Carl Friedrich Gauss Medai
- 2008 - Liebig-Denkmünze
- 2008 - Honorary doctorate from the University of BaselUniversity of BaselThe University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...