Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Jan Thesing celebrates his 90th birthday on May 15, 2014.

Jan Thesing, born in Darmstadt, Germany, May 15, 1924, studied chemistry at the Technische Hochschule (TH) Darmstadt and received his Ph.D. in 1952 under the guidance of Clemens Schopf. He stayed at TH Darmstadt and completed his habilitation in 1955. After beginning his independent career he quickly made an international name for himself in indole chemistry. In 1958, he joined E. Merck AG, Darmstadt, Germany, as Head of the Research. In 1966, he became Deputy Chairman of the Board of E. Merck OHG and in 1972 he was appointed Vice Chairman (pharmaceutical research, development, and production) of the board of E. Merck.

Jan Thesing has held numerous honary positions including CEO of the Engere Kuratorium of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI; Chemical Industry Fund) from 1981–1086, and President of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh; German Chemical Society) from 1986–1987.

After his retirement, Jan Thesing made his industry expertise available to the German chemical business newspaper CHEManager and its publishing house, GIT Verlag, now a part of Wiley-VCH, as publisher, editor, and advisor until 2004.

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Also of interest:

• Wer ist’s?
  Nachr. Chem. Tech. Lab. 1989, 37, 628–629.
  DOI: 10.1002/nadc.19890370621

Selcted publications by Jan Thesing:

• Trendumkehr in der Arzneimittelforschung,
  Jan Thesing,
  Naturwissenschaften 1977, 64, 601–605.
  DOI: 10.1007/BF00440091
• Beiträge zur Chemie des Indols, XIII²⁾ Eine neue Synthese 5- und 7-substituierter Indole³⁾
  Jan Thesing, Günther Mohr, Günther Semler,
  Chem. Ber. 1962, 95, 2205–2211.
  DOI: 10.1002/cber.19620950917
• Darstellung von N-disubstituierten Hydroxylaminen durch Mannich-Reaktionen,
  Jan Thesing, Herbert Uhrig, Alfred Müller,
  Angew. Chem. 1955, 67, 31–32.
  DOI: 10.1002/ange.19550670107