Klaus Hahlbrock - biography#

Klaus Hahlbrock obtained a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Chemistry at the University of Freiburg in 1965, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Davis with Prof. E. E. Conn from 1967 to 1968. Between 1968 and 1982, he received his ‘Habilitation’, became Professor of Biochemistry, and was twice Chairman of the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg. Between 1983 and 2002, he became Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society, and Director and Head of the Department of Biochemistry, at the Max Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research, in Cologne. He was also Vice President of the Max Planck Society from 1996 to 2002. For his scientific research, he was recipient of the ‘Tate and Lyle Award’ of the Phytochemical Society of Europe in 1979, and received the Otto-Bayer Prize in 1985. He is a member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (now German National Academy) and of the Academia Europaea, and Corresponding (honorary) Member of the American Society of Plant Physiologists and Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Among other recognitions, he was awarded the Kopernikus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award of the Polish Science Foundation. His academic teaching (from 1968 to 2002) concentrated on General and special fields of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Phytopathology. He is Editorial Board Member of various scientific journals, and chairman and member of various scientific advisory boards. Moreover, he is co-organizer of various scientific congresses and symposia.