Prof. Dr. Bert Hölldobler (born 1936) is highly-regarded internationally as a behavioural scientist and evolutionary biologist. After professorships in Frankfurt am Main, at Harvard University and Cornell University, he took over the Chair for Behavioural Physiology and Social Biology at the University of Würzburg in 1989. Bert Hölldobler studies the diversity of social organization in insects, in particular ants, which primarily served as models for his ground-breaking work in the fields of behavioural physiology, behavioural ecology, evolutionary biology, social biology and chemical ecology. The work of this multi-faceted top researcher has resulted in many new discoveries about chemical communication and orientation behaviour in animals, the dynamics of social structures and the evolution of animal communities. He has received numerous high-level awards including the German Research Foundation’s Leibniz Prize and the Körber Prize. Bert Hölldobler has always understood how important it is to formulate his scientific findings for a wider audience. In 1991 he received the American Pulitzer Prize for his work “The Ants”, a joint collaboration with Edward Osborne Wilson. Even since becoming professor emeritus in 2004, he has continued his pioneering scientific research at the University of Würzburg and has worked as a research professor at Arizona State University in the US. Bert Hölldobler has been a member of the Leopoldina’s Zoology Subsection since 1975.

Prof. Dr. Anna M. Wobus (born 1945) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Wobus (born 1942) have been carrying out exceptional work on cell research, in particular stem cell research (Anna M. Wobus) and structure and function of animal and plant genes (Ulrich Wobus) at the Academy Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben since the 1970s and 1980s respectively. The work has continued with great success after the institute was re-founded and became part of the Leibniz Association. Anna M. Wobus is a pioneer in stem cell research in Germany. She is also committed to the social aspects of stem cell research and is today a leading figure internationally in her branch of research. Her name is also linked to the establishment of embryonic stem cells in mice and the development of functional cardiomyocytes and insulin producing cells. The work of Ulrich Wobus has contributed greatly to the understanding of gene structures, gene expression, gene regulation and molecular physiology of seed development and storage substance formation in legumes and grains. In 1992 Ulrich Wobus became the founding director of the institute evaluated by the German Council of Science and Humanities which, under the new name of Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), was developed into a centre for cutting-edge plant research with an emphasis on cultivated plants.  The Gatersleben Gene Bank has been given the status “Federal ex situ collection of agricultural and horticultural plants”. At the same time genome research on grain and high-performance bioinformatics have been established.

A special trademark of the Gatersleben initiatives of Anna and Ulrich Wobus was their success in conveying science to the community and in unifying it with artistic as well as literary aspects. Meetings, referred to as the “Gaterslebener Begegnungen” have been held since 1986 and give natural scientists, social scientists, writers, artists, publishers, politicians and ordinary people the opportunity to exchange ideas about numerous scientific aspects and their social implications. Anna M. Wobus has been a member of the Leopoldina’s Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine Section  since 2001. Ulrich Wobus has been a member of the Leopoldina’s Genetics/Molecular Biology Subsection since 1993.

The golden Cothenius Medal goes back to an endowment made by the Leopoldina member Christian Andreas von Cothenius (1708-1789) who was also the private physician of Friedrich II, King of Prussia. It was awarded for the first time in 1792. Originally, the medal was bestowed for work in the field of medicine. Since 1954 the Leopoldina has awarded this medal for excellent scientific life’s work, mainly to members of the Academy.