Rolf Sammet

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Rolf Sammet (right) during a visit by a GDR delegation to Hoechst AG (1980)

Rolf Sammet (born February 21, 1920 in Stuttgart , † January 19, 1997 in Bad Soden am Taunus ) was a German chemist and manager .

life and work

Rolf Sammet was born in Stuttgart in 1920 as the son of a dentist. Due to the consequences of a severe frontal sinus disease, he was exempted from military service and studied chemistry at the Technical University of Stuttgart from 1939, where he received his doctorate in 1945 . In 1949, Sammet began his career at Hoechst in the laboratory for solvents and plastics. Shortly thereafter, he switched to the technical department as a consultant, of which he became head of the department in 1957, reporting directly to the chairman of the board, Karl Winnacker. In the meantime, he had proven himself in the operational business of building up synthetic textile fiber production (Trevira®) . In 1952 he switched to the science department. In 1955, Sammet became production manager at the Bobingen fiber factory . In 1957 he took over the management of the technical department. Member of the board since 1962, he followed Karl Winnacker from 1969 to 1985 as chairman of the board. During his time as CEO, Hoechst grew to become the second largest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world. From 1985 to 1993, Sammet was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hoechst AG.

In 1975 he became an honorary professor at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In 1983 he was elected President of the German section of the International Chamber of Commerce . Rolf Sammet's achievements are reflected in numerous honors, such as the Federal Cross of Merit with a Star, which he received in 1977, and the Carl Duisberg plaque . Rolf Sammet died in Bad Soden in January 1997. He was, as Hoechst AG recalled in its obituary, "one of the best-known and most prominent entrepreneurs of the seventies and eighties, who made a significant contribution to the further development of Germany as a business location."

On the occasion of his resignation in 1985, Hoechst AG donated a visiting lecturer at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. The purpose of the foundation is to promote research and teaching in the natural sciences while taking interdisciplinary aspects into account. The Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship, one of the oldest at Goethe University, has brought outstanding researchers in the natural and life sciences to Frankfurt over the course of its 25 years of existence. Five of the total of 30 guest scientists were already Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry (Medicine) when they accepted the invitation, and five others were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the following months or years. The Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship is sponsored by Sanofi-Aventis today.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Sammet, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and manager
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1997
Place of death Bad Soden am Taunus