Karl Freudenberg Award

The Karl Freudenberg Award was established in 1986 to mark the 100th anniversary of Karl Freudenberg’s birth by the Freudenberg Group (external link) in 1986 to mark the 100th anniversary of Karl Freudenberg’s birth, with the aim of promoting young scientists in Baden-Württemberg. The award recognizes scientific work in the natural sciences, particularly in chemistry and biology.

The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros.

Who is eligible for nomination?

Researchers should be no older than 35 years of age. The proposed work must have been published or submitted for publication within the past two years. If multiple authors have made significant contributions to the award-winning work, the award may be awarded to them in equal shares; however, it cannot be divided among several independent works.

Who may submit nominations?

All members of the Mathematical and Natural Sciences class of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
All heads of academic institutions at the universities of Baden-Württemberg (rectors, deans, Managing Directors, institute directors)
All Managing Directors of non-university research institutions in Baden-Württemberg
Self-nominations are not permitted

The Donor

Founded in 1849 by Heinrich Christian Heintze and Carl Johann Freudenberg as a tannery, the Freudenberg Group (external link), one of the most important developments in sealing technology was launched: the Simmerring. With this, the company began diversifying into a wide range of business sectors and has since evolved into a globally active technology company.

Karl Freudenberg was born on January 29, 1886, as the third son of Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, who ran the company as part of the second generation alongside his brother, and grew up with nine siblings. He studied chemistry and, after holding various positions, was appointed to a professorship at Heidelberg in 1926, a position he held until his retirement in 1956. Freudenberg researched the structure of cellulose and its polymerization mechanism. He also formulated the optical displacement theorem.

In 1926, he was admitted as a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. From 1943 to 1949, he served as Vize President of the Academy.

Karl Freudenberg died on April 3, 1983, at the age of 98.

The Award Recipients

The award was presented for the first time in May 1988. The first recipient was Professor Dr. Wolfram Sander (external link), who currently holds the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Ruhr University in Bochum. Read in our magazine "Athene" 2/2018 (PDF) on page 15 and following, how he recalls the 30th Award Ceremony in 2018 in an interview.

The award winners since 1988:

Jahr	Name	Titel
2026	Rosławska, Anna	Submolecular-scale control of phototautomerization
2025	Baur, Maximilian	Catalytic synthesis of in-chain keto-functionalized polyethylene materials
2024	Schunck, Natalie	In vivo Olefin Metathesis in Microalgae Upgrades Lipids to Building Blocks for Polymers and Chemicals
2023	Delaunay, Sylvain	Mitochondrial RNA modifications shape metabolic plasticity in metastasis
2022	Anggara, Kelvin	Identifying the Origin of Local Flexibility in a Carbohydrate Polymer
2022	Mateus, André	The functional proteome landscape of Escherichia coli
2021	Yan, Jing	Coupling of NMDA receptors and TRPM4 guides discovery of unconventional neuroprotectants
2020	Exposito-Alonso, Moises	Diverse Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der molekularen Entwicklungs- und Evolutionsbiologie
2019	Lu, Yi	Forschungsgebiet: magnetische und supraleitende Zustände in Materialien mit stark korrelierten Elektronen
2018	Döring, Kristina	„Profiling Ssb-Nascent Chain lnteractions Reveals Principles of Hsp70-Assisted Folding“
2017	Bleith, Tim	Reaktionsmechanismen der enantioselektiven, eisenkatalysierten Hydrosilylierung von Ketonen und der enantioselektiven, zinkkatalysierten Alkylierung von Oxindolen
2016	Hansmann, Max	Correlating the Reactivity of Gold and Boron Electrophiles
2015	Böhmer, Anna Elisabeth	Competing Phases in Iron-Based Superconductors Studied by High-Resolution Thermal Expansion and Shear-Modulus measurements
2014	Floßdorf, Michael	Stochastic T cell fate decisions
2013	Mauceri, Daniela	Nuclear Calcium-VEGFD Signaling Controls Maintenance of Dendrite Arborization Necessary for Memory Formation
2012	Mutschler, Hannes	A Novel Mechanism of Programmed Cell Death in Bacteria by Toxin-Antitoxin Systems Corrupts Peptidoglycan Synthesis
2011	Schock-Kusch, Daniel	Entwicklung neuer Substanzen zur Bestimmung der Nierenfunktion: Farbmarkierte Fruktosane
2010	Diederichs, Sven	Verbindung des Gebiets der Molekularbiologie von nicht-codierenden RNAs mit Fragestellungen der Tumorbiologie
2009	Lisker, Thorsten	Virgo Cluster Early-Type Dwarf Galaxies
2008	van der Laan, Martin	Rekonstitution der Membraninsertion von mitochondrialen Vorstufenproteinen
2007	Ludwig-Peitsch, Wiebke Katharina	Das Aktin-bindende Protein Drebrin E2: Molekulare Funktionen und diagnostische Bedeutung
2006	Müller, Ann-Kristin	Funktionelle Charakterisierung Plasmodium Sporozoiten-spezifischer Gene im Malaria-Mausmodell
2005	Legler, Daniel F.	Signalübertragung in Membranmikrodomänen entscheidet über Leben und Tod von Tumorzellen
2004	Berges, Jürgen	Dynamik fern des Gleichgewichts und Thermalisierung von Quantenfeldern
2004	Schwappach, Blanche	Zelluläre Lokalisationssignale für den intrazellulären Transport und die Qualitätskontrolle von Kanalproteinen
2003	Lyko, Frank	Arbeit zur Entdeckung des DNA-Methylierungssystems in Drosophila
2002	Goldfuß, Bernd	Struktur, Reaktivität und Selektivität elementorganischer Reagenzien und Katalysatoren
2001	Meyer, Franc	Kooperierende Metallzentren in Mehrkernkomplexen multidentaler Pyrazolatliganden
2000	Loose, Markus	Ein CMOS-Bildsensor mit automatischer Kalibrierung und logarithmischem Antwortverhalten
1999	Hunger, Johannes	Genetische Algorithmen und neuronale Netzwerksimulationen zur Kraftfeldparameterentwicklung am Beispiel der Modellierung von Tripod-Metall-Komplexen
1999	Schulz, Christof	Entwicklung und Anwendung eines Laserinduzierten Fluoreszenzverfahrens zur quantitativen Bestimmung momentaner Stickoxidverteilungen in Verbrennungsmotoren
1998	Niehrs, Christof	Arbeiten zur Aufklärung des molekularen Mechanismus der Kopfinduktion
1997	Schmidt, Christian	Entwicklung eines neuen Atomstrahl-Spinecho-Spektrometers für die Untersuchung des dynamischen Verhaltens zweidimensionaler Systeme
1996	Wolff, Jens	Mehrfach Donor-Akzeptor-substitierte pi-Systeme: Zusammenhänge zwischen Konformation, elektronischer Struktur und nichtlinear optischen Eigenschaften
1995	Niemz, Markolf	Zu elementaren Wechselwirkungsarten zwischen Laserlicht und biologischem Gewebe
1994	Lobreyer, Thomas	Eine neuartige Synthesestrategie zu CVD-geeigneten Prozeßgasen
1993	Mechtersheimer, Gunhild	Towards the phenotyping of soft tissue tumors by cell surface molecules
1992	Grützmacher, Hansjörg	Phosphor- und Zinnverbindungen mit schwachen II-Bindungen: Synthesen, Strukturen und Reaktivität
1991	Lichter, Peter	Hochauflösungskartierung von Chromosom 11 über in situ Hybridisierung mit Cosmidklonen
1990	Lindpaintner, Klaus	Strukturelle Veränderungen des Renin-Gens in spontan hypertensiven Ratten: Untersuchungen zur Beziehung zwischen Genotyp und Phänotyp
1989	Klempnauer, Karl-Heinz	Über das nukleäre Tumorgen Myb
1988	Sander, Wolfram	Über Carbonyl-Oxide und Dioxirane

Nomination Deadline

Annually, March 1–June 30

What must be submitted?

Cover sheet

Dokument

Vorblatt-Preise_0.docx
Justification for the proposal (maximum of two pages)
Curriculum Vitae
List of Publications
HAdW

The documents should be submitted as a single PDF file and sent to hadw[at]hadw-bw.de .

When will the decision be made?

The Academy will announce its decision at the beginning of the year. The award recipient and their mentor will be notified of the result in writing.

Do you have any questions?

You can reach us by phone at 06221 54-3265 or by email at hadw[at]hadw-bw.de .

If you wish to send the documents by mail, please send them to:

Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Executive office
Karlstraße 4
69117 Heidelberg