Professor Walter Thiel, Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Germany, has received the 2012 Liebig Memorial Medal. The Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) awards the Medal every two years to recognize the achievements of German chemists. The prize was presented at the 127th Assembly of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte (GDNÄ, Society of German Scientists and Physicians) in Göttingen, Germany, on September 17, 2012.

Walter Thiel studied at the University of Marburg, Germany, where he completed his Ph.D. under the direction of Armin Schweig in 1973. After postdoctoral research from 1973–1975 with Michael J. S. Dewar at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, he rejoined the University of Marburg, where he received his habilitation in 1981. From 1983–1992, he was Associate Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Wuppertal, Germany, and from 1992–1999, he was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He was made Director at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in 1999, and has been Honorary Professor at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, since 2001.

Thiel has been a member of the Editorial Board of Angewandte Chemie since 2006. His research interests are in theoretical and computational chemistry, in particular quantum chemistry, and his recent work includes a report on nonradiative decay dynamics of adenine in DNA strands.

• Hydrogen Bonding Regulates the Monomeric Nonradiative Decay of Adenine in DNA Strands,
  Y. Lu, Z. Lan, W. Thiel,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6864.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201008146
• Theoretical Chemistry—Quo Vadis?
  W alter Thiel looks at the direction theoretical chemistry is heading in his editorial in Angewandte Chemie