On March 10, 2024, the awards of the German Society of Crystallography were presented at the honorary evening during the 33rd annual conference of the DGK in Hanover.
Prof. Dr. Udo Heinemann received the Carl Hermann Medal for his scientific contributions to the understanding of nucleic acid-protein interactions, his achievements in setting up state-of-the-art diffraction measuring stations at the BESSY II synchrotron in Berlin, and for his tireless commitment to crystallography in Germany and Europe. This prize, the highest awarded by the DGK, honors the life’s work of outstanding scientists
The Will Kleber Memorial Coin was awarded to Dr. Regine Herbst-Irmer in recognition of her outstanding and interdisciplinary research into the analysis of twins and their influence on structure determination in complex crystalline materials.
Dr. Nicholas Pearce received the Max-von-Laue Prize for Young Scientists for his significant work on innovative data analysis of multiple data sets to extract weak differences and dynamics in protein crystals.
This year, the Waltrude and Friedrich Liebau Prize for the promotion of interdisciplinarity in crystallography was again awarded. Artistic works inspired by crystallographic motifs are often (but not always) selected for this award. Dr. Maja Klevanski received the award for her work in the field of protein art, which combines art with scientific findings from protein crystallography as well as with the properties and functions of the proteins depicted, is of high didactic value for laypersons and young scientists by linking findings from crystallography and molecular biology and thus making them accessible, and which has attracted broad national and international attention in traditional and modern media, thereby increasing the visibility of crystallography in the public eye.
The Lieselotte Templeton Prize for student work was awarded three times this year, the maximum number permitted. This year’s prize winners are:
M.Sc. Niklas Langer in recognition of his fundamental work on verifying the validity of the extended coordination number rule in ionic compounds by automated database analysis.
M.Sc.Daniel Brüx in recognition of his work on the creation and analysis of an amino acid benchmark database for single crystal X-ray diffraction experiments.
M.Sc. Lukas Brüning in recognition of his work on the high-pressure synthesis of novel binary and ternary nitrides of the main group elements.