Journal of‘ Chromatogrcrph~.. 477 (1989) 1 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam .- Printed in The Netherlands

60TH BIRTHDAY OF GERHARD SCHOMBURG

On August 22nd this year, Gerhard Schomburg, one of the protagonists of chromatography, has celebrated his 60th birthday.

The chromatographic community has known Gerhard Schomburg for many years, from scientific meetings throughout the world, as a presenter of fascinating new results and a lively and impulsive participant in discussions, as an organizer of sym- posia and for the last several years as the chairman of the Arbeitskreis Chromato- graphie of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker.

Gerhard Schomburg studied chemistry at the University of Bonn. His doctoral thesis, prepared under Nobel Laureate Karl Ziegler and submitted to the Technische Hochschule Aachen, was on infrared spectroscopy. In 1956 he became head of the chromatography department of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Kohlenforschung and in 1965 also of the chromatography laboratories of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Strah- lenchemie, both in Miihlheim/Ruhr. Through his work and presence over the years, this city has become one of the places of pilgrimage for both experts and novices in chromatography,

Gerhard Schomburg’s research interests encompass all kinds of chromatogra- phy including gas, liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography. His special focus for many years has been on capillary gas chromatography with both basic research on, and development of, highly efficient and selective methods as well as automated systems. It is this part of his work which has very substantially contributed to the practical acceptance and proliferation of this method. In recent years he has also made remarkable contributions to the development of novel phases for the liquid chromatographic separation of ions and enantiomers.

He teaches chromatography at the Universities of Wuppertal and Bochum and gives courses and seminars on various aspects of chromatography. He is author of a textbook on gas chromatography and has published his scientific work in more than 180 papers. He is an editor of the journal Chromatograplzia.

Gerhard Schomburg’s contributions to the advancement of chromatography have been recognized by many awards. He received the Tswett Memorial Medal from the Scientific Council on Chromatography of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. (1978), the MS. Tswett Medal of the International Symposia on Advances in Chromatography (1983), the A. .I. P. Martin Award of the Chromatography Soci- ety of Great Britain (1984) and the Stephen Dal Nogare Award of the Chromatogra- phy Forum of the Delaware Valley, U.S.A. (1986). In 1987 he was awarded an honor- ary doctorate from the University of Duisburg, F.R.G.

With warm congratulations let us join in wishing Gerhard Schomburg many more productive years in good health and with much success.

Waldhronn (F.R.G. ) KLAUS-PETER HUPE