Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegner
CEO
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Wegner took over the scientific management of IMM on 16th November 2006. Gerhard Wegner (born 3.1.1940, Berlin) holds a doctoral degree in chemistry from the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (1965). After his work as a research staff chemist at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., USA (1967/68), he returned to the University of Mainz for his habilitation in physical chemistry (1970) and was working there as a professor for physical chemistry. From 1974 to 1984 he had the chair in Macromolecular Chemistry at the University of Freiburg (Germany). He joined the Max Planck Society in 1983 as one of the founders of the present Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz which he is heading as director since 1984. At the same time he is teaching professor for the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz.
Beyond IMM Dr. Gerhard Wegner is member of the board of directors of DECHEMA, Frankfurt, as well as member of numerous scientifc organsations, among these the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz where he is vice president since 2005, as well as the Austrian and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Between 1996 and 2002 he was vice president of the Max Planck Society.
Prof. Wegner received numerous academic honors, such as Honorary Doctorates from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, USA, the Technical University of Lodz, Poland, Dr. Ing. e.h. of the University of Erlangen, Honorary Professor at Nankai University, Tientsin, China, Hermann Staudinger Award of the GDCh, Gold-Medal of the Europ. Materials Society, honorary membership of the Japanese Society for Polymer Research (JSPS), etc.
In more than 600 original papers for international scientific journals he has published on subjects from materials sciences, the development of polymers for optical applications, electronics and other fields of high technology. His current research interests comprise the development of applications for polymers in opto-electronics, energy technology (batteries, fuel cells) and medical diagnostics.