Manfred Eigen
Who was Manfred Eigen?
Nobel laureate: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1967)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Manfred Eigen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Manfred Eigen (1927-2019) was a German biophysical chemist whose groundbreaking work on fast chemical reactions earned him the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Born in Bochum on May 9, 1927, Eigen came up with new ways to measure chemical reactions happening in microseconds or nanoseconds, opening up new possibilities for understanding basic chemical activities in living organisms. His methods allowed scientists to study reactions that were once thought too quick to measure, changing the field of physical chemistry.
Eigen began his education at the Gymnasium am Ostring and later attended the University of Göttingen, where he conducted much of his pioneering research. He developed experimental techniques like the temperature-jump and pressure-jump methods, which helped measure extremely fast chemical equilibria. These techniques were key to understanding enzyme catalysis, protein folding, and other biological processes that occur too quickly for earlier experimental methods to detect.
In addition to his Nobel Prize-winning achievements, Eigen significantly advanced knowledge about the molecular basis of evolution and the origin of life. He proposed theories on how self-replicating molecular systems could form and evolve, linking chemistry and biology in unique ways. His research at the Max Planck Institute laid the groundwork for the field of evolutionary biotechnology, which combines chemistry, biology, and information theory to examine life's basic processes.
Throughout his career, Eigen received many prestigious awards acknowledging his contributions to science, including the Otto Hahn Prize (1962), the Carus Medal (1967), the Faraday Lectureship Prize (1977), the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1992), and the Helmholtz Medal (1994). He also received the Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order and the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2011). Eigen was married to Ruthild Winkler and spent his final years in Göttingen, where he died on February 6, 2019, leaving a transformed understanding of chemical kinetics and molecular evolution.
Before Fame
Manfred Eigen was born in Bochum during a time of rapid growth in physical chemistry and quantum mechanics in the 1920s and 1930s. He grew up as German universities were becoming top places for chemical research, even amid political unrest. After the war, the scientific scene in Germany, especially at the University of Göttingen, was ideal for the kind of interdisciplinary research that Eigen would later pursue.
His rise to fame began in the 1950s when new technology made it possible to study things that couldn't be measured before. The invention of advanced tools and measurement methods allowed young scientists like Eigen to explore new areas in chemical kinetics. By choosing to study fast reaction kinetics, Eigen placed himself at the cutting edge of a new field, crucial for understanding biological processes at the molecular level.
Key Achievements
- Won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing methods to measure extremely fast chemical reactions
- Pioneered temperature-jump and pressure-jump relaxation techniques that revolutionized chemical kinetics research
- Established evolutionary biotechnology as a scientific discipline combining chemistry, biology, and information theory
- Developed theoretical frameworks for understanding molecular evolution and the origin of self-replicating systems
- Founded interdisciplinary research programs at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
Did You Know?
- 01.Eigen shared the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Ronald Norrish and George Porter, who developed complementary techniques for studying fast reactions using flash photolysis
- 02.His temperature-jump technique could measure chemical reactions occurring in less than a microsecond by rapidly heating solutions and observing how quickly equilibrium was restored
- 03.Eigen proposed the concept of 'hypercycles' - self-organizing systems of molecules that could replicate and evolve without cellular machinery
- 04.He established the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, which became a leading center for molecular evolution research
- 05.Eigen's work influenced the development of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technology by providing theoretical foundations for understanding enzyme kinetics
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Nobel Prize in Chemistry | 1967 | for their studies of extremely fast chemical reactions, effected by disturbing the equilibrium by means of very short pulses of energy |
| Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order | — | — |
| Lower Saxony honorary medal | — | — |
| Faraday Lectureship Prize | 1977 | — |
| Rudolf-Diesel-Medaille | — | — |
| Otto Hahn | 1962 | — |
| Carus medal | 1967 | — |
| Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize | 1992 | — |
| Helmholtz Medal | 1994 | — |
| Wilhelm Exner Medal | 2011 | — |
| Gold Goethe medal | 2007 | — |
| Hall of Fame of German Research | 2010 | — |
| Max Planck Research Award | 1994 | — |
| Foreign Member of the Royal Society | 1973 | — |
| Austrian Decoration for Science and Art | 1976 | — |
| honorary doctor of the University of Bielefeld | — | — |
| Honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Munich | — | — |
| Linus Pauling Award | 1967 | — |
| Bourke Award | 1962 | — |
| Paracelsus Prize | 1967 | — |
| State Award of Lower Saxony | 1980 | — |
| Otto Hahn Prize for Chemistry and Physics | 1962 | — |