For the second time, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has awarded the 20,000-mark Eugen- and Ilse-Seibold Prize for the Promotion of Science and Understanding between Germany and Japan to two scientists, one German and one Japanese. The prize-winners are Professor em. Dr. Hans-Joachim Queisser from the Max Planck Institute for Solid-state Research in Stuttgart, and Professor Dr. Yasuo Tanaka, Tokio University, currently director of the Liaison Office of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in Bonn.
Hans-Joachim Queisser, born in 1931, and an experimental physicist specialising in semiconductors, studied physics in Berlin and Göttingen, where he was awarded his doctor's degree in 1958. In 1964 he qualified for a professorship at Frankfurt University and in 1970 became one of the founding directors of the Max Planck Institute for Solid-state Research in Stuttgart. Queisser was a member of the "Zukunftskommission" (Future Commission) of the state of Baden-Württemberg, and has belonged to the "German-Japanese Dialogue" since 1992. In 1993 he became a member of the Curatorium of the National Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory in Tsukuba in Japan. He was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1997.
Yasuo Tanaka, also born in 1931, is the best-known Japanese expert in the field of high-energy astrophysics. He initiated the co-operation between the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the Japanese Institute for Space and Astronautical Science. On gaining emeritus status, he was awarded the Humboldt Research Prize in 1994. Since 1995, in his capacity as director of the Liaison Office of the JSPS in Bonn, he has contributed to the intensification of German-Japanese co-operation through the medium of fellowships and project funding.
The marine biologist and former DFG president Professor Dr. Eugen Seibold and his wife Dr. Ilse Seibold donated this prize for scientists who, as Germans, have proved their qualities in scientific studies in or concerning Japan, or who, as Japanese, have done likewise in or concerning Germany, and who have contributed to improving understanding between the two countries. The prize is awarded every two years. The presentation will take place in the Wissenschaftszentrum in Bonn at 5 p.m. on 12th April 1999.