Karl Freudenberg Prize

The Karl Freudenberg Prize was established in 1986 by the Freudenberg Group (external link) on the 100th anniversary of Karl Freudenberg's birth to promote young scientists in Baden-Württemberg. The prize is awarded for scientific work in the natural sciences, particularly in chemistry and biology.

The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros.

Who can be nominated?

Researchers should not be older than 35 years of age. The proposed work should have been published or submitted for publication in the past two years. If several authors have made a significant contribution to the award-winning work, the prize may be awarded to them in equal parts; however, it cannot be divided among several independent works.

Who is allowed to make suggestions?

All members of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences
all heads of scientific institutions at universities in Baden-Württemberg (rectorates, deaneries, managing directors, institute directors)
all heads of non-university research institutions in Baden-Württemberg (executive directors)
Unsolicited applications are not accepted.

The prize founder

Founded as a tannery in 1849 by Heinrich Christian Heintze and Carl Johann Freudenberg, the Freudenberg Group(external link) launched one of the most important developments in sealing technology around 80 years later: the Simmerring. This marked the beginning of the company's diversification into a wide range of business areas, and today it has developed into a global technology company.

Karl Freudenberg was born on January 29, 1886, as the third son of Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, who ran the company in its second generation together with his brother, and grew up with nine siblings. He studied chemistry and, after holding various positions, was appointed to the chair in Heidelberg in 1926, which he held until his retirement in 1956. Freudenberg researched the structure of cellulose and its polymerization principle. He also developed the optical displacement theorem.

In 1926, he was accepted as a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. From 1943 to 1949, he served as secretary of the academy.

Karl Freudenberg died on April 3, 1983, at the age of 98.

The award winners

The prize was awarded for the first time in May 1988. The first winner was Professor Dr. Wolfram Sander(external link), who now holds the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Ruhr University in Bochum. Read how he recalls the award ceremony in an interview on page 15f. of our magazine "Athene" 2/2018(PDF) on the occasion of the 30th award ceremony in 2018.

The award winners since 1988:

year	Name	Title
2025	Baur, Maximilian	Catalytic synthesis of in-chain keto-functionalized polyethylene materials
2024	Schunck, Natalie	In vivo olefin metathesis in microalgae upgrades lipids to building blocks for polymers and chemicals
2023	Delaunay, Sylvain	Mitochondrial RNA modifications shape metabolic plasticity in metastasis
2022	Anggara, Kelvin	Identifying the Origin of Local Flexibility in a Carbohydrate Polymer
2022	Mateus, André	The functional proteome landscape of Escherichia coli
2021	Yan, Jing	Coupling of NMDA receptors and TRPM4 guides discovery of unconventional neuroprotectants
2020	Exposito-Alonso, Moises	Various works in the field of molecular developmental and evolutionary biology
2019	Lu, Yi	Research area: magnetic and superconducting states in materials with strongly correlated electrons
2018	Döring, Kristina	"Profiling SSB-nascent chain interactions reveals principles of Hsp70-assisted folding"
2017	Bleith, Tim	Reaction mechanisms of the enantioselective, iron-catalyzed hydrosilylation of ketones and the enantioselective, zinc-catalyzed alkylation of oxindoles
2016	Hansmann, Max	Correlating the Reactivity of Gold and Boron Electrophiles
2015	Böhmer, Anna Elisabeth	Competing Phases in Iron-Based Superconductors Studied by High-Resolution Thermal Expansion and Shear-Modulus measurements
2014	Floßdorf, Michael	Stochastic T cell fate decisions
2013	Mauceri, Daniela	Nuclear Calcium-VEGFD Signaling Controls Maintenance of Dendrite Arborization Necessary for Memory Formation
2012	Mutschler, Hannes	A novel mechanism of programmed cell death in bacteria by toxin-antitoxin systems corrupts peptidoglycan synthesis
2011	Shock-Kusch, Daniel	Development of new substances for determining kidney function: color-marked fructosans
2010	Diederichs, Sven	Linking the field of molecular biology of non-coding RNAs with questions of tumor biology
2009	Lisker, Thorsten	Virgo Cluster Early-Type Dwarf Galaxies
2008	van der Laan, Martin	Reconstitution of the membrane insertion of mitochondrial precursor proteins
2007	Ludwig-Peitsch, Wiebke Katharina	The actin-binding protein drebrin E2: molecular functions and diagnostic significance
2006	Müller, Ann-Kristin	Functional characterization of Plasmodium sporozoite-specific genes in a malaria mouse model
2005	Legler, Daniel F.	Signal transmission in membrane microdomains determines the life and death of tumor cells
2004	Berges, Jürgen	Dynamics far from equilibrium and thermalization of quantum fields
2004	Schwappach, Blanche	Cellular localization signals for intracellular transport and quality control of channel proteins
2003	Lyko, Frank	Work on the discovery of the DNA methylation system in Drosophila
2002	Goldfuß, Bernd	Structure, reactivity, and selectivity of organoelement reagents and catalysts
2001	Meyer, Franc	Cooperating metal centers in multicore complexes of multidentate pyrazolate ligands
2000	Loose, Markus	A CMOS image sensor with automatic calibration and logarithmic response behavior
1999	Hunger, Johannes	Genetic algorithms and neural network simulations for force field parameter development using the example of modeling tripod metal complexes
1999	Schulz, Christof	Development and application of a laser-induced fluorescence method for the quantitative determination of instantaneous nitrogen oxide distributions in combustion engines
1998	Niehrs, Christof	Work on elucidating the molecular mechanism of head induction
1997	Schmidt, Christian	Development of a new atomic beam spin echo spectrometer for investigating the dynamic behavior of two-dimensional systems
1996	Wolff, Jens	Multiple donor-acceptor substituted pi systems: Correlations between conformation, electronic structure, and nonlinear optical properties
1995	Niemz, Markolf	On elementary types of interaction between laser light and biological tissue
1994	Lobreyer, Thomas	A novel synthesis strategy for CVD-suitable process gases
1993	Mechtersheimer, Gunhild	Towards the phenotyping of soft tissue tumors by cell surface molecules
1992	Grützmacher, Hansjörg	Phosphorus and tin compounds with weak II bonds: syntheses, structures, and reactivity
1991	Lights, Peter	High-resolution mapping of chromosome 11 via in situ hybridization with cosmid clones
1990	Lindpaintner, Klaus	Structural changes in the renin gene in spontaneously hypertensive rats: Investigations into the relationship between genotype and phenotype
1989	Plumber, Karl-Heinz	About the nuclear tumor Myb
1988	Sander, Wolfram	About carbonyl oxides and dioxirans

Do you have any questions?

You can reach us by phone at +49 (0)6221 54-3265 or by email at hadw[at]hadw-bw.de.

If you wish to send the documents by mail, please send them to:

Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Executive Secretariat
Karlstraße 4
69117 Heidelberg

nomination deadline

Annually March 1 - June 30

What needs to be submitted?

Justification of the proposal, maximum two pages
resume
list of publications
an award-worthy work

The documents should be submitted as a single PDF file and sent to hadw[at]hadw-bw.de.

When will the decision be made?

The Academy will announce its decision at the beginning of the year. The winner and their mentor will be notified of the result in writing.