Clemens-Winkler Medal of the GDCh Division of Analytical Chemistry

The Clemens-Winkler Medal for Analytical Chemistry was awarded to Prof. Dr Irene Nehls on 22 June 2022 on the occasion of the analytica conference 2022, in recognition of her committed contribution to analytical chemistry as a science.

"Her scientific work was characterised by a broad and highly regarded range of trace analysis, from polyaromatics to organotin compounds. The first reference materials developed by her at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing attracted international attention. Irene Nehls contributed to environmental analytical and food chemistry issues through the analysis of brominated flame retardants and mycotoxins. Her name is associated nationally, but especially in Europe, with standardisation and regulation in the field of soil analysis. Irene Nehls has shown exceptional commitment to Analytical Chemistry, initially in the GDR and, after reunification, in bringing together the Federal Institute and Humboldt University. For many years, she served on the Board of the Division of Analytical Chemistry and organised ANAKON in Berlin. In addition to innovative university teaching, she enriched the education of many students and doctoral researchers through a series of summer schools on quality assurance."

"Professor Dr. Reinhard Nießner is one of the most successful and committed representatives of analytical chemistry in Germany. From 1986 to 1989, he conducted research and taught as a C2 professor at the University of Dortmund, and from 1989 until his retirement in 2017 as a C4 professor at TU Munich. During this time, he also held visiting professorships in Austria, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Through his work on aerosol and exhaust-gas analysis, photoacoustics and microarray-chip-based test systems, including their practical implementation, he has provided influential impetus worldwide. Having supervised more than 200 diploma and master’s theses, over 160 doctoral dissertations and supported six postdoctoral researchers, he is a co-founder of a "Munich School of Analytical Chemistry".

Through his scientific work, comprising more than 600 publications and over 30 patent applications, Reinhard Nießner is one of the most productive analytical chemists worldwide. With his objective and profound knowledge, he was always a sought-after expert, including by politicians and the media. Reinhard Nießner is, among other distinctions, an awardee of the Heinrich Emmanuel Merck Prize, the Smoluchowski Prize for Aerosol Research, the Fritz Pregl Medal of the Austrian Society for Analytical Chemistry, the Fresenius Award for Analytical Chemistry of the German Chemical Society and the Hanns Malissa Lecture Award. As the first European associate editor of the journal “Analytical Chemistry”, he advanced analytical chemistry in Germany in many ways. In addition, he has been a committed member of the Division since 1984 and a long-standing author of the analytical chemistry trend reports in Nachrichten aus der Chemie.

With the presentation of the Clemens-Winkler Medal to Prof. Reinhard Nießner, the Division of Analytical Chemistry recognises not only his outstanding scientific achievements but, in particular, his passionate commitment to the field of analytical chemistry. In recognition of these achievements, the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the German Chemical Society awards Professor Dr. Reinhard Nießner the Clemens-Winkler Medal 2019."