Wolfgang A. Herrmann - Biography#

Prof. Herrmann (b. 1948) conducts research in the fields of inorganic and organometallic chemistry. The goal of this research is the chemical synthesis of efficient, molecularly defined catalysts, for industrial processes in particular, in order to achieve an understanding of their mechanisms and support their technical implementation. The focus is on C-C bond-forming reactions (including olefin metathesis, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Grignard cross-couplings) and the activation of inert chemical precursors such as hydrofluorocarbons and methane.

After studying chemistry at TUM, Prof. Herrmann obtained his doctorate in 1973. In 1978, he completed his lecturer qualification at the University of Regensburg. He conducted research with Prof. P.S. Skell as a German Research Foundation (DFG) fellow at Penn State University in the USA (1975/76). Following a professorship in Frankfurt (1982-1985), he took over the Chair of Prof. E.O. Fischer at TUM in 1985. From 1995 to 2019, he was President of TUM. Prof. Herrmann is a member of numerous academic societies (Leopoldina, Acatech, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Mainz Academy of Letters and Sciences) and holds honorary doctorates from thirteen universities in Germany and abroad. He is one of the most highly cited German chemists (ISI), with more than 800 scientific publications and around 80 patents and has a Hirsch index of 124 (2023). Since 1st October 2019 President Emeritus of TUM.

He is a world-renowned chemist who has won many prestigious academic awards, including Leibniz Award of the German Research Foundation (highest-quoted science award in Germany) in 1986, American Chemical Society Award in Organometallic Chemistry in 2004, Max Planck-Research Award in 1991, and Officer (2000) and Commandeur (2019) de la Legion d´Honneur of the Republic of France, Bavarian Maximiliansorden of Science and the Arts (highest-ranking public award of the Free State of Bavaria, strictly limited to 100 living recipients) in 2012, etc.

Functions in Scientific Societies and Committees:

• Since 2021 Chair of the Founding Advisory Board of the Deutsche Zentrum Mobilität der Zukunft (DZM)
• Since 2020 Honorary President of the Kutaisi International University, Georgia
• 2019-2022 Deputy Chairman, Board of Directors, Skolkovo Foundation (Moscow)
• Since 2019 University council of the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Chair since 2020)
• Since 2017 Senate of the Max Planck Society
• 2016 - 2020 Board of Trustees of the Bertelsmann Stiftung
• 2015 - 2019 Chairman of the Global Alliance of Technological Universities (GlobalTech)
• Advisory Board of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
• Since 2014 Board of Trustees of the TÜV SÜD Foundation (chair since 2018)
• 2014-2020 Chair of the Future Council of the Bavarian Industry Association
• Since 2010 Board of the TUM University Foundation (Chairman 2010-2019)
• Member of the Future Council of the Bavarian Government (Zukunftsrat), Germany
• 2008 - 2014 Member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
• Since 2007 International Advisory Council at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
• 2004 - 2005 Founding Chairman of the Universität Bayern e.V., Germany
• 2002 - 2004 Chairman of the Bavarian University Rectors Conference (Bayerische Rektorenkonferenz), Germany
• 1998 - 2014 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany