1988 Seaborg Award: Günter Herrmann

Award Statement C&EN (page 2-3)

Herrmann received his diploma degree in 1954 and his doctoral degree under the direction of Fritz Strassmann in 1956 from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität.

He was instrumental in establishing the university’s research reactor that went into operation in 1967.

The 61-year-old chemist has had a prolific research output, mainly in five interrelated areas: development of rapid, automated chemical separation methods; fission studies; nuclear reactions induced by heavy ions; properties of exotic nuclei far from stability; and searches for superheavy elements, both in nature and in the lab.

Instruments and chemical methods that Herrmann and his coworkers have devised allow him and his students to isolate, in a matter of seconds, a host of specific elements in quite pure form from complex mixtures. Such techniques gave access to previously unknown, short-lived nuclides produced by fission at the Mainz reactor and allowed studies of their decay properties.

Günter Herrmann (1925-2017): A tribute