30.08.18 – Professor Michael Grätzel has been awarded the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Memorial Medal from the German Chemical Society.

The German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker or GDCh) is a learned society and professional association. It was founded in 1949 to represent the interests of German chemists in both Germany and internationally. The GDCh “unites those people associated with the chemical and molecular sciences and supports them in their responsible and sustainable endeavors for the good of the public and of our environment.”

Every two years, the GDCh awards August Wilhelm von Hofmann Medal to recognize outstanding achievements in chemistry, particularly by scientists working outside of Germany. Founded in in 1902, the Medal is named after famous organic chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann, and is represented by a gold coin.

This year, the GDCh has awarded the prestigious Medal to Professor Michael Grätzel, who directs EPFL’s Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. Grätzel is internationally famous for the invention of dye-sensitized solar cells (“Grätzel cells”), which became the launch pad for the current development of perovskite photovoltaics. Dye-sensitized solar cells are already manufactured on a multi-megawatt scale, and perovskite photovoltaics are poised to conquer the market in the near future.