On November 12, 2019, the MPI for Chemical Energy Conversion and the MPI für Kohlenforschung together with the Ernst Haage Foundation awarded the Ernst Haage Prize for Chemistry to young scientists.
This science prize, which is endowed with €10,000 in total, has been awarded since 2006 to young scientists for outstanding achievements in the field of chemistry.
Laureates 2019:
The National Ernst Haage Prize went to <link http: jagau.cup.uni-muenchen.de>Dr. Thomas-Christian Jagau of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich for his groundbreaking contributions to the quantum chemical description of electronic resonance states. Dr. Jagau received his doctorate with the grade 'summa cum laude' in Mainz in 2013 and has been an independent junior research group leader in Munich since 2015.
The Ernst Haage Prize for doctoral students was awarded to Dr. Casey van Stappen, who earned his doctorate at the MPI CEC in the Department of Inorganic Spectroscopy of Prof. Serena DeBeer as part of the <link>IMPRS-RECHARGE. He completed his dissertation on spectroscopic investigations to understand the electronic structure and reactivity of nitrogenases with summa cum laude in summer 2019.
The Ernst Haage Prize for apprentices was awarded to Vanessa Richter, chemical laboratory assistant at MPI CEC and Pia Münstermann, chemical laboratory assistant at MPI Kohlenforschung, for their outstanding achievements during their training and beyond.
Foundation work since 2006
The Ernst Haage Foundation and the award were named after Ernst Haage, an entrepreneur from Mülheim who died in 1968 and whose scientific and technical instruments, devices and tools had been closely linked to the research of the Mülheim research institutes since 1932.
His daughter, Ursula Bonnen, established the foundation in 2006 together with the MPI for Chemical Energy Conversion to commemorate her father, who has always maintained close contact with the research institutions in Mülheim, and who was particularly interested in promoting young talents.
Ursula Bonnen unfortunately passed away in 2019. "We are extremely grateful for her generosity and are delighted that she made it possible for us to award the prize," explains Prof. Walter Leitner, Director at the MPI for Chemical Energy Conversion. Ms. Bonnen has always been extremely modest and has left the spotlight on the award winners.
Symposium with first-class scientists
This year's award ceremony was once again embedded in a top-class symposium to which internationally renowned speakers were invited. A total of eleven scientists from the USA, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Great Britain presented their latest research results and passed on their knowledge to the researchers of the Max Planck Institutes in Mülheim. "The symposium is a great opportunity for us and our PhD students and postdocs to make contact with such first-class scientists from all over the world. We are honored that they have all come to Mülheim," says Prof. Frank Neese, Director at the MPI für Kohlenforschung and spokesman for the Mülheim MPIs in the Ernst Haage Foundation.
More detailed information on the award winners can be found in our <link file:5431>press release (german only).
Presentation of the Ernst Haage Prize
This year's winners of the Ernst Haage Prize with members of the Board of Trustees of the Ernst Haage Foundation © MPI CEC f.l.t.r: Thomas Jagau (national prize winner), Frank Neese (director MPI für Kohlenforschung), Vanessa Richter (awardee apprentices), Jürgen Gauss (laudator and doctoral supervisor of Thomas Jagau), Pia Münstermann (awardee apprentices), Robert Schlögl (director MPI CEC), Walter Leitner (director MPI CEC), Serena DeBeer (director MPI CEC), Casey van Stappen (PhD prize winner), Axel Förster (Representative of the founder in the Ernst Haage Foundation)