Obituary for Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Rolf Hilgenfeld

Today we received the sad news that our founding member Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Rolf Hilgenfeld, Senior Professor at the University of Lübeck, passed away yesterday, June 19, 2025. Rolf Hilgenfeld was Professor of Biochemical Structure Research at the Universities of Jena and Lübeck and was actively involved in corona research until his death. Among his many scientific achievements in the field of biomolecular crystallography, the members of our society will probably remember his work on the structure of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the first results of which he presented in the opening lecture of our annual conference on February 24, 2020. He received the Carl Hermann Medal of the German Crystallographic Society for his scientific life’s work in 2023.