Waser Group

🎁HBT Henning Hopf, who turns 85 today. He is an eminent #hydrocarbon chemist who made major contributions to #alkenes and alkines, #allenes and cumulenes, as well as cyclophanes and dendralenes, and he wrote “Classics in Hydrocarbon Synthesis”, published 25 years ago by @Wiley_VCH. Reading and writing, translating and editing are a most important part of his scientific life—he is a true “man of letters”. Currently, he is a member of the Advisory Board of “Lives in Chemistry” l-i-c.org, a series of so far 15 autobiographies of great chemists. Hopf studied chemistry at the Univ. of Göttingen @uniGoettingen and the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison @UWMadison, where he received his PhD in 1967 for work with Harlan L. Goering. His academic career started with a habilitation in Karlsruhe (today KIT) in 1972; professorships at the Univ. of Würzburg @Uni_WUE (1975–1978) and at the Univ. of Braunschweig @tuBraunschweig followed. Hopf served as President of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) @GDCh_aktuell in 2004/2005, and he was instrumental in unveiling the role of chemical societies and their representatives in the Nazi era, which earned him the prestigious Primo Levi Award of the GDCh and the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) @SocChimIta. #OrganicChemistry #PrimoLevi #KITKarlsruhe