Rudolf Hoppe, University of Gießen, Germany, has passed away on November 25 at the age of 92. In 1962, he synthesized the stable noble gas compound XeF₂.

Rudolf Hoppe, born in 1922 in Wittenberge, Germany, studied chemistry at the Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany, and obtained his PhD from the Westfälische Wilhelms-University, Münster, Germany, in 1954. He also got his habilitation degree in Münster and gained a professorship for inorganic chemistry there in 1958. In 1965, Hoppe accepted an offer for the chair of inorganic and analytic chemistry at the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen, Germany, which he kept until his retirement in 1991.

Hoppe’s research focused on solid state chemistry, especially the synthesis and characterization of oxo- and fluorometalates of the alkali metals.

Rudolf Hoppe published over 650 articles in international and national peer-review journals, had been the scientific editor for ZAAC (Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie) from 1981 – 1997, and was awarded numerous prizes for his work, including the Alfred-Stock-Award of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) in 1974, the Otto-Hahn-Award for Chemistry and Physics in 1989 as the first representative of inorganic chemistry, and the Lavoisier-Medal of the Société de France in 1995.
Hoppe was a pet lover and will be remembered by his students for always asking for the color of a solid compound.

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Selected Publications

• Zu Grundfragen Anorganischer Festkörperchemie: Sind NaFeF₃ [1] und CsFeF₃ [2] ‚Perowskite’?,
  R. Hoppe,
  Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 2006, 632 (4), 593 – 598.
  DOI: 10.1002/zaac.200500425
• Quantitytive Beschreibung von Kristallstrukturen über die Fern-Ordnung: Ist das Oxyd RbNa₂AuO₂ ein „Oxoaurat“?,
  R. Hoppe,
  Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 2004, 630, 2384 – 2392.
  DOI: 10.1002/zaac.200400267
• A new route to charge distributions in ionic solis,
  R. Hoppe, St. Voigt, H. Glaum, J. Kissel, H.-P. Müller, K. Bernet,
  J. Less-common-metals 1989, 156, 105 – 122.
  DOI: 10.1016/0022-5088(89)90411-6
• Effective coordination numbers (ECoN) and mean fictive ionic radii (MEFIR),
  R. Hoppe,
  Z. Kristallogr. 1979, 150, 23.
  DOI: 10.1524/zkri.1979.150.1-4.23
• Madelung Constants,
  R. Hoppe,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1966, 5, 95.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.196600951

• Xenon­difluorid, XeF₂,
  R. Hoppe, H. Mattauch, K.M. Rödder, W. Dähne,
  Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 1963, 324(3-4), 214.
  DOI: 10.1002/zaac.19633240313

• On the Fluorination of Xenon: Xenon Difluoride, in: Noble‑Gas Compounds (Ed. Hyman),
  R. Hoppe, H. Mattauch, K.‑M. Rödder, W. Dähne,
  Chicago, USA, 1963, p. 98.

Also of Interest

• Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 2012, 638 (12-13), 1875 – 2165.
  Is a Special Issue dedicated to Professor Rudolf Hoppe on the occasion of his 90th birthday.