Kurt Kremer (born 17 June 1956 in Kapellensüng (

Lindlar Lindlar ( ) is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located about 30 km east of Cologne. Geography Lindlar is located between latitudes 50°58' and 51°5' N. and longitudes 7°15' and 7°28' E ...

)) is a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Career

Kremer studied physics from 1974 to 1980 at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, where he also did his PhD in 1983 under supervision of Prof. Dr.

Kurt Binder Kurt Binder (10 February 1944 – 27 September 2022) was an Austrian theoretical physicist. He received his Ph.D. in 1969 at the Technical University of Vienna, and his habilitation degree 1973 at the Technical University of Munich. He decided t ...

. From 1982 to 1984 he was part of the scientific staff at

Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ here for short) is a national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates research infrastructures with a focus on supercomputers. Cu ...

. Following this work he worked as a postdoc at Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Annandale NJ and returned to Jülich after his Habilitation at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...

in 1988. After several research visits (e.g. at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, Minneapolis and

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

) he left the research center when he became director and scientific member of the

Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (german: Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung) is a scientific center in the field of polymer science located in Mainz, Germany. The institute was founded in 1983 by Erhard W. Fischer and Gerhard ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

in 1995 (1998–2000 and 2008–2010 he was managing director). His main research targets are

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...

and

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

of especially biological and synthetic macromolecular materials, the development and application of (multiscale) computer simulation methods, as well as structure process property relations, morphology and dynamics of

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

polyelectrolytes Polyelectrolytes are polymers whose repeating units bear an electrolyte group. Polycations and polyanions are polyelectrolytes. These groups dissociate in aqueous solutions (water), making the polymers charged. Polyelectrolyte properties are t ...

, gels, membranes, liquid crystals and peptides in bulk and under geometrical constraints and polymers for electronic applications. As of June 2015 he authored more than 260 scientific publications (

ResearcherID ResearcherID is an identifying system for scientific authors. The system was introduced in January 2008 by Thomson Reuters Corporation. This unique identifier aims at solving the problem of author identification and correct attribution of work ...

: G-5652-2011). His most-cited paper ''Dynamics of entangled linear polymer melts: A molecular‐dynamics simulation'', co-authored with Gary S. Grest, introduces a polymer model later to be knows as the Kremer-Grest Model. Kremer is an elected member of the German National

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

(2012), a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

(2006) and Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota (1991). He received the

Walter Schottky Prize The Walter Schottky Prize is a scientific prize awarded by the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, German Physical Society for outstanding research work of young academics in the field of solid-state physics. Since 1973 the prize is generally awar ...

of the German Physical Society (1992), the American Physical Society Polymer Physics Prize (2011) and an ERC-Advanced Grant (2014).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kremer, Kurt 20th-century German physicists 21st-century German physicists Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz University of Cologne alumni Max Planck Society people Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research people 1956 births Living people Max Planck Institute directors Fellows of the American Physical Society