Michael Tausch Honored for Excellence in Chemistry Didactics

Professor Michael Tausch, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, has been awarded the inaugural Heinz Schmidkunz Prize by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCH, German Chemical Society). The award recognizes outstanding contributions to research into the teaching of chemistry, teacher training, and the development of material for teaching chemistry in schools. It was presented at the GDCh Wissenschaftsforum 2015 in Dresden, Germany, on August 31, 2015.

Professor Tausch’s work includes photochemistry in science education, curriculum innovation, and the development of didactic materials on silicones and cyclodextrins.

Michael Tausch studied chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Romania, from 1967 to 1972. He subsequently studied mathematics and educational sciences in Bremen and Oldenburg, both Germany, and received his Ph.D from the University of Bremen in 1981. He was a teacher for chemistry and mathematics from 1976–1996. In 1996, he completed his habilitation at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. and became Professor for Chemistry and Chemical Education there. In 2005, he moved to the Department for Chemistry Didactics at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany.

Among other honors, Professor Tausch has received the Friedrich-Stromeyer Preis of the GDCh in 1994 and the Johann-Joachim Becher-Preis of the J. J. Becher-Gesellschaft in 2007.

Selected Publications

A Demonstration of Simultaneous Electrochemiluminescence,
Jorge G. Ibanez, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Biaani Sotomayor-Martinez Barranco, Jonatan Torres-Perez, Claudia Camacho-Zuniga, Claudia Bohrmann-Linde, Michael W. Tausch,
J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 470–472.
DOI: 10.1021/ed300701a
In Chemie besser als bei PISA (in German),
Michael W. Tausch, Claudia Bohrmann-Linde,
Chem. unserer Zeit 2013, 47, 11–11.
DOI: 10.1002/ciuz.201390001
Gewinnen mit Chemie als Schwerpunkt (in German),
Michael W. Tausch,
Nachr. Chem. 2012, 60, 95–97.
DOI: 10.1002/nadc.201290066
The Basis for Photocatalytic Writing,
Jorge G. Ibanez, Michael W. Tausch, Claudia Bohrmann-Linde, Isabel Fernandez-Gallardo, Ainoha Robles-Leyzaola, Simone Krees, Nico Meuter, Mathias Tennior,
J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1116–1118.
DOI: 10.1021/ed1008848
CuO/ZnO Nanoparticles in a Matrix of Amorphous Silica as High-Surface Precursors for Methanol Synthesis,
Bernd Rohe, Rainer Weiss, Sascha Vukojević, Christian Baltes, Martin Muhler, Michael Tausch, Matthias Epple,
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 2007, 1723–1727.
DOI: 10.1002/ejic.200601084
NMR investigations of silane-coated nano-sized ZnO particles,
Mrignayani Kotecha, Wiebren Veeman, Bernd Rohe, Michael Tausch,
Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 2006, 95, 66–75.
DOI: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2006.04.017