Editorial

60th Birthday of Ernst Bayer

On March 24, 1987, Ernst Bayer, Professor at the Univer- sity of TiJbingen and one of the protagonists of Chromatog- raphy celebrated his 60th birthday.

Ernst Bayer is certainly no stranger to the Chromatography Community. He is known throughout the world as a presen- ter of.fascinating new results; as a lively, and impulsive par- ticipant in discussions; as an organizer of Symposia and, for many years, as the Head of the Arbeitskreis Chromatogra- phie of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker. Ernst Bayer's scientific interest, however, goes far beyond chromatog- raphy and focuses mainly on the area of biochemistry. Many of his findings were the result of a synergystic appli- cation of preparative and analytical methods. In many in- stances he has converted his basic research work into in- strumental methods or industrially applied processes. This in turn, has led to numerous patents he holds at present.

Ernst Bayer was born and raised in Ludwigshafen on the River Rhine -- his slight "Pf~lzer" dialect revealing his origin. He studied chemistry at the universities of Heidel- berg and Freiburg receiving his Ph.D. in 1954 at the Max- Planck-lnstitut fiJr Medizinische Forschung at Heidelberg. In 1957 he became Head of the Department of Chemistry and Physiology at the Government Research Institute Geil- weilerhof. In 1958 he accepted a position of an associate professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Tech- nical University of Karlsruhe and became a full Professor

and Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of T~ibingen in 1962. From 1967 to 1970 he served as the Robert A. Welsch Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston, Texas.

Ernst Bayer is author of more than 300 scientific papers and has written a monograph on Gas Chromatography which was translated into both English and Russian. He is a co-editor of Chromatographia, the Journal of Chromato- graphic Science, the Journal of Coordination Chemistry and Bioinorganic Chemistry.

His scientific interests span from the structural investiga- tion of naturally-occurring metal complexes and antibio- tics and the synthesis of peptides and nucleotides to the synthesis of polymeric chelating compounds for selective removal and enrichment of metals. In the area of chromato- graphy he has made substantial contributions to prepara- tive separations; the combination of GC-MS and the separa- tion of diastereomers. In recent years he became interested in the conversion of biomass of waste products into oil and other useable hydrocarbons.

Ernst Bayer's contributions to the advancement of bio- chemistry and chromatography have been recognised by a number of awards. He received the award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (1961); the Tswett Medal of the Academy of Science of the USSR (1978); the A.J.P. Martin Award (1978); the B.P. Energy Research Prize (1980); the Max-Bergmann-Medaille for Peptide Research (1981); the Philip Morris Research Prize "Men and Environment" (1965) and the Tswett Chromatography Award (1986).

In his endeavours, both as a scientist and as an academic teacher, Ernst Bayer has stimulated and supported a great number of students, pupils and colleagues. Many of these visited T~ibingen to participate in the birthday celebrations.

Let us join together in wishing Ernst Bayer many more pro- ductive years, both in his private and his very active public life.

Klaus-Peter Hupe

Chromatographia Vol. 23, No. 4, April 1987 239