Dieter Jahn, former President of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) and former researcher and manager at BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, celebrates his 70th birthday on April 23, 2021.
Dieter Jahn was born in 1951 in Neresheim, Germany. He studied chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under the supervision of Franz Effenberger in 1978. He worked at BASF from 1979 to 2012 starting as Laboratory Head and later holding different leadership positions, including Head of the Research Group for Plant Protection Biotechnology and Leader of the Center for Science Relations and Innovation Management.
In 2006 and 2007, Jahn served as President of the GDCh. He was named Honorary Professor of Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Stuttgart in 2006. Jahn remained at BASF until his retirement in 2012.
Among many other commitments, Jahn has served, e.g., as Head of the University Council at the University of Konstanz, Germany, as Knowledge Transfer Ambassador for Materials Science of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and as Head of the Working Group for Venture Capital of the “Partner for Innovation” initiative run by the German government. He was also a member of the Senate Commission of the Helmholtz Association and the Chemistry Advisory Board of the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2016, Dieter Jahn was awarded an honorary membership by the GDCh, the highest award granted by the society.
Selected Publications
- Substituted 5-formyl-1,3-dioxepans,
Walter Gramltch, Hardo Siegel, Dieter Jahn,
U.S. Patent No. 4,761,489, 1988. - Cyclohexenone derivatives and their use for controlling undesirable plant growth,
Michael Keil, Rainer Becker, Dieter Jahn, Dieter Kolassa, Ulrich Schirmer, Wolfgang Will, Bruno Wuerzer, Norbert Meyer,
U.S. Patent No. 4,624,696, 1986. - Cyclohexanedione derivatives, their preparation and herbicides containing them,
Rainer Becker, Dieter Jahn, Wolfgang Rohr, Walter Himmele, Hardo Siegel, Bruno Wuerzer,
U.S. Patent No. 4,422,864, 1983.
