Research

Combustion:

Cool flames, ignition processes, flame structure, propagation and acceleration, inhibition, detonations (their structure, limits and initiation), soot formation, explosions hazards

Reaction kinetics:

Unimolecular reactions, especially decomposition of small molecules in shock waves, hydrocarbon oxidation, reactions of atoms and radicals in ground and excited state reactions

Thermodynamics:

Vapour-liquid-equilibria, dynamics of separation processes for rectification systems and reactor distillation systems.

Career

• 1983-1989 Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) 
• 1983-1984 Chairman of the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry
• 1978-1982 Vice President of the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• since 1976 Secretary of the Academy of Sciences and Humanities Göttingen, Germany
• 1976-1980 Vice-Chairman of the DFG Chemistry Committee
• 1972-1980 Expert of the DFG
• 1971-1997 Head of the Department Reaction Kinetics, University Göttingen, Germany
• 1971-1997 Professor for Physical Chemistry at the University Göttingen, Germany
• 1965-1971 Professor for Physical Chemistry at the University Bochum, Germany
• 1960 Habilitation, University Göttingen, Germany
• 1956 Ph.D., Technical University Darmstadt, Germany
• 1948-1953 Studies in Chemistry and Physics at the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany

Honours and Memberships

• 1999 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1999 Honorary Member of the German Bunsen Society
• 1997 DECHEMA Medal
• 1993 Walther Nernst Commemorative Coin of the German Bunsen Society
• 1991 Dionizy Smolenski Medal
• 1987 Merit Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1987 Numan Manson Medal
• 1982 Titan Badge of the DECHEMA
• 1972 Bernard Lewis Gold Medal of the International Combustion Institute
• 1963 Fritz Haber Award of the German Bunsen Society