Wolfram Koch, theoretical chemist and Executive Director of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society), celebrates his 60th birthday on July 18, 2019.
Wolfram Koch was born in Darmstadt, Germany. He studied chemistry at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (today Technische Universität Darmstadt) and at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin, Germany. He received his Ph.D. from TU Berlin in 1986 under the supervision of Helmut Schwarz. In 1987–1988, he was an IBM Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Computational Chemistry, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA, USA. In 1988, he became Senior Scientist at the Institute for Supercomputing and Applied Mathematics at IBM Germany’s Scientific Center in Heidelberg.
In 1992, Koch returned to TU Berlin as Professor of Theoretical Organic Chemistry. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Department Head at the GDCh in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and as Head of the office of the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) project “Global Info – The German Digital Library Project”. From 2000 to 2002, he was GDCh Director “Science and Research”. Since 2002, Koch serves as Executive Director of the “Deutscher Zentralausschuss für Chemie” (DZfCh, German representation in IUPAC) and Executive Director of the GDCh.
Among other honors, Wolfram Koch has received the Schering-Award for best dissertation in chemistry in 1987, the Gold Medal of the Slovak Chemical Society in 2002, and the Goldene Ehrennadel (badge of honor) of the VAA (association of managers in the chemical industry) in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), an Honorary Member of the Czech Chemical Society (ČSCH), an Honorary Fellow of ChemPubSoc Europe, and an Honorary Member of the Israel Chemical Society (ICS). In his work and in his numerous honorary activities, Wolfram Koch has shown great commitment to scientific publishing and the promotion of chemistry.
- Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society), Frankfurt am Main
Largest chemical society in continental Europe with 31,000 members from academe, education, industry, and other areas - GDCh‐Jahresbericht 2018 (in German),
Nachr. Chem. 2019, 67, JB_1–JB_39.
https://doi.org/10.1002/nadc.20194089483
Selected Publications
- Energy Storage as Part of a Secure Energy Supply,
Florian Ausfelder, Christian Beilmann, Martin Bertau, Sigmar Bräuninger, Angelika Heinzel, Renate Hoer, Wolfram Koch, Falko Mahlendorf, Anja Metzelthin, Marcell Peuckert, Ludolf Plass, Konstantin Räuchle, Martin Reuter, Georg Schaub, Sebastian Schiebahn, Ekkehard Schwab, Ferdi Schüth, Detlef Stolten, Gisa Teßmer, Kurt Wagemann, Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn,
ChemBioEng Rev. 2017, 4, 144–210.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cben.201700004 - Ethics and chemistry: the role of learned societies, as exemplified by the German chemical societies,
Wolfram Koch,
Toxicol. Environ. Chem. 2015, 98, 1060–1066.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02772248.2015.1094474 - Energiespeicherung als Element einer sicheren Energieversorgung,
Florian Ausfelder, Christian Beilmann, Martin Bertau, Sigmar Bräuninger, Angelika Heinzel, Renate Hoer, Wolfram Koch, Falko Mahlendorf, Anja Metzelthin, Marcell Peuckert, Ludolf Plass, Konstantin Räuchle, Martin Reuter, Georg Schaub, Sebastian Schiebahn, Ekkehard Schwab, Ferdi Schüth, Detlef Stolten, Gisa Teßmer, Kurt Wagemann, Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn,
Chem. Ing. Tech. 2015, 87, 17–89.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.201400183 -
A Chemist’s Guide to Density Functional Theory,
Wolfram Koch, Max C. Holthausen,
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2001.
ISBN: 978-3-527-30372-4
- The singlet and triplet states of phenyl cation. A hybrid approach for locating minimum energy crossing points between non-interacting potential energy surfaces,
Jeremy N. Harvey, Massimiliano Aschi, Helmut Schwarz, Wolfram Koch,
Theor. Chem. Acc. 1998, 99, 95–99.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s002140050309 - On the parameterization of the local correlation functional. What is Becke-3-LYP?,
Roland H. Hertwig, Wolfram Koch,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 1997, 268, 345–351.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2614(97)00207-8 - Helium chemistry: theoretical predictions and experimental challenge,
Wolfram Koch, Gernot Frenking, Juergen Gauss, Dieter Cremer, Jack R. Collins,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 5917–5934.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00254a005
Also of Interest
- March for Science,
ChemViews Mag. 2017.
Scientific truth must always remain the measure of all things - ChemPubSoc Europe Fellows Program,
Eva E. Wille, Secretary Fellows Program of ChemPubSoc Europe,
ChemViews Mag. 2015.
A Unique Experiment – A Unique Success: European Chemical Societies Instigate Honors Program
