Helmut Simon (chemist)

Helmut Simon (born April 14, 1927 in Würzburg ; † May 19, 2016 ) was a German chemist specializing in organic chemistry and biochemistry .

Life

Simon was born in Würzburg in 1927. In 1930 his family moved to Ludwigshafen am Rhein where Simon grew up. From April 1946 he studied chemistry at the University of Mainz . After four semesters, he moved to Heidelberg University . There doctorate he in February 1954 to the Dr. rer nat. with Friedrich Weygand . While working on his dissertation , Simon worked as a research assistant at Karl Freudenberg . He then worked in the von Weygand group from autumn 1954 to 1964, accompanying them from Heidelberg to the University of Tübingen , the Technical University of Berlin and the Technical University of Munich . In 1956 he was a post-doctoral student with Melvin Calvin at the University of California at Berkeley . In 1960 he completed his habilitation in Munich . In 1964 he was offered the chair of chemistry at the Institute for Agricultural Technology in Weihenstephan (today's TUM Science Center Weihenstephan).

In 1971 he took over the newly created chair for organic chemistry and biochemistry at the Technical University of Munich and held it until his retirement on March 31, 1994. Simon taught for the next three years. Then the chair was split up. Adelbert Bacher took over the chair for organic chemistry and biochemistry , while Johannes Buchner took over the chair for biotechnology.

In addition to his work as a university lecturer, he was also dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, while it was moved from Munich to Garching . During his time in Garching, Simon founded a special research area on bioconversion and was elected President of the Society for Biological Chemistry .

Web links

• Curriculum vitae , Faculty of Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Obituaries in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
2. ↑ ^{a b c} portrait , TUM-Mitteilungen 2-2007