Manfred Eigen, Ph.D

Manfred Eigen, Ph.D.

Former Director
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry

Manfred Eigen's contributions to science have ranged across the disciplines of physics, biology, and chemistry and have included insights into the thermodynamic properties of water and aqueous solutions, electrolyte theory, thermal conductivity, sound absorption, and the origin of nucleic acids and proteins.

Eigen is best known, however, for his studies of extremely fast chemical reactions, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 (with R.G.W. Norrish and George Porter). He developed a method—called relaxation techniques—to measure reactions lasting from a second to a nanosecond. The method involves disturbing a substance with a sudden burst of energy, such as a pulse of high-frequency sound waves, and then measuring the time it takes the substance to return to its normal state of equilibrium. He later applied these techniques to complex biochemical reactions.

The German-born physicist was educated at the University of Göttingen (Ph.D., 1951). After two years working there, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry, where he became head of the department of biochemical kinetics and then director of the institute. In 1971, the Max Planck institutes for physical chemistry and spectroscopy merged to become the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, inspired in part by Eigen's vision of an interdisciplinary approach.

The author or more than 100 papers and many books, Eigen earned many distinguished awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the 1962 Otto Hahn Prize for chemistry and physics, the 1967 Linus Pauling Medal of the American Chemical Society, and the 1977 Faraday Medal of the Royal Society.

Send comments to: press[at]scripps.edu

SEARCH NEWS & VIEWS

New Screening Technique Yields Elusive Compounds

Team Awarded $8.4 Million to Develop New Anti-Smoking Treatments

The Class of 2012

Scripps Research Celebrates 20th Commencement