Professor Alfred Flint, University of Rostock, Germany, has been awarded the Heinz-Schmidkunz-Preis by the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCH, German Chemical Society) for his outstanding commitment, his charisma, and his ability to combine theory and practice in a lively way.

The award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to chemical education research, the training of chemical educators, and the teaching of chemistry in schools. Alfred Flint is considered one of the most active chemistry educators in Germany. The selection committee was also impressed by the fact that he not only develops his experiments and concepts, but also presents and demonstrates them authentically in lectures and workshops.

 

We met with Alfred Flint at the GDCh-Wissenschaftsforum Chemie (WiFo 2023) in Leipzig, Germany, and talked about how he develops his experiments, what it takes to get students excited and curiuos about chemistry, and what fascinates him about chemistry.

 

Alfred Flint studied chemistry, geography, and physics for secondary school teaching, graduating in 1985. He received his Ph.D. in 1989 for research conducted in the group of Professor Walter Jansen, University of Oldenburg, Germany. After working for about six years at the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium (secondary school) in Nienburg, Germany, he accepted a position as a lecturer at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1999, he was appointed Professor of Didactics of Chemistry at the University of Rostock.