Two honorary doctorates for exceptional research
In the end of January 2023, Robert Schlögl, Director of the Department for Inorganic Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute, had the honor and privilege to receive not one but two honorary doctorates. The Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Messina presented the major awards for his outstanding contributions on the research on catalysis.
Honorary doctorates (honoris causa) are given by universities for extraordinary achievements. Robert Schlögl´s engagement in groundbreaking research was acknowledged as well as his commitment in the development of renewable energy systems.
Since 1994, he is director at the FHI. With his Department for Inorganic Chemistry, he aims to gain a generalized understanding of heterogeneous catalysis as a multi-scale phenomenon. This understanding is used in the CatLab project, where Schlögl is one of the co-founders. The main objective of CatLab is the development of new types of catalysts to ensure efficient conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy and vice versa.
The Technical University of Darmstadt presented him with the honorary doctorate on January 24th during an official award ceremony.
The University of Messina organized the ceremony in its Aula Magna, where the participants dressed to the occasion. The certificate and before that the invitations for the event were presented with the rich and long history of the university in mind.
We congratulate Robert Schlögl and celebrate our director´s achievement.