Ludwig-Genzel-Prize

Ludwig Genzel (1922 – 2003) was Professor for Physics at the Universities of Frankfurt and Freiburg. In 1970, he became director and founder member of the Max-Planck- Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. Ludwig Genzel was one of the early pioneers of infrared spectrometers, especially Fourier Transform infrared units. He predicted that this technology has a bright future, at times when it was still just considered as an exotic technique for rare applications in the very far IR. Ludwig Genzel in his scientific career has provided numerous contributions to infrared spectroscopy and its use in solid state physics and other physics and chemistry disciplines. When Bruker decided in the early seventies to launch a new product line Ludwig Genzel was well prepared to support this ambitious project as a scientific consultant. He contributed several substantial ideas amongst which the special interferometer design of the first Bruker FT-IR spectrometer is well known under his name: The “Genzel Interferometer� of the early IFS 114.