Hartmut Follmann

Hartmut Follmann (born May 10, 1936 in Kassel ; † January 22, 2013 in Marburg ) was a German biochemist . From 1972 to 1988 he was a university lecturer (H3 → C3) at the Philipps University of Marburg and from 1988 to 2002 Professor of Biochemistry (C4) at the University of Kassel .

Life

Hartmut Follmann began studying chemistry in 1956 at the Philipps University in Marburg and graduated in 1962 with a degree in chemistry . From 1963 to 1964 he experimented for his dissertation with Professor Karl Dimroth on an organic chemical topic. From 1965 to 1967 he worked as a DFG - scholarship under the direction of Herbert Witzel at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Marburg in building a biochemistry internship with. He spent his post-doctoral studies from 1967 to 1970 as a Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry at Iowa State University in Iowa City, USA.

From 1970 Follmann worked again as a research assistant to Professor Witzel at the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the Philipps University in Marburg, where he completed his habilitation there in 1972 in the subject of biochemistry, was appointed lecturer and shortly thereafter became H3 professor. Until 1988 he did research at the newly founded Institute for Biochemistry on the Lahnberge , where large parts of the Philipps University and thus the chemistry department had moved.

From 1985 to 1986 Follmann was dean of the chemistry department.

The appointment to a C4 professorship at the University of Kassel for the new subject area of ​​biochemistry took place in 1988. With the establishment of biochemistry in Kassel, Follmann ensured that Kassel biology received a complete profile within modern natural sciences. He retired in 2001.

During this time, Follmann was invited to professorships at the Universities of California in Berkeley and Minnesota in Minneapolis , USA.

research

Hartmut Follmann's research topics were in particular DNA methylation as a reaction in epigenetics ; the mechanism of ribonucleotide reductases and its role in chemical evolution ; the function of thioredoxin and the influence of pollutants on plants .

Association activity

As a scientist and university lecturer, Follmann has always wanted to represent biochemistry and the University of Kassel in public, for example through his many years of work on the boards of the North Hessian Society for Natural History and Natural Sciences (NGGN) and the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) ). In the Darwin year 2009 he was particularly committed to the dissemination and presentation of Darwin's thoughts and their topicality.

For the 12th and 13th documenta in Kassel , the world's largest art exhibition, he expressed himself in a friendly and ironic manner in articles that the art enthusiast wrote together with his wife Ursula Follmann for BioSpektrum, the GBM magazine.

Works and publications (selection)

• H. Follmann, Chemistry and Biochemistry of Evolution. How and where did life come about , UTB for Science, Stuttgart 1981
• H. Follmann and Walter Grahn, Chemistry for Biologists Teubner Study Books Chemistry, Stuttgart 1997 (1st edition), 1999 (2nd edition)
• H. Follmann, Biochemistry - Basics and Experiments , Teubner Study Books Chemistry, Stuttgart 2001
• H. Follmann and Carol Brownson (2009), Darwin's warm little pond - revisited: from molecules to the origin of life , Naturwissenschaften 96: 1265-1292
• H. Follmann (2009), Charles Darwin. Was Darwin a chemist? , BIOS spectrum 5: 577-578
• H. Follmann (2004), Deoxyribonucleotides: the unusual biochemistry and chemistry of DNA precursors , Chemical Society Reviews 33: 225-233
• H. Follmann (1986) Have deoxyribonucleotides and DNA been among the earliest biomolecules? , Advances in Space Research 6: 33-38

Individual evidence

1. ^ Uni Kassel: On the death of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Follmann ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.