Ruthild Winkler-Oswatitsch (born 1941, also known as Ruthild Oswatitsch Eigen) is an Austrian biochemist associated with the
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (german: Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie), also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute (german: Karl-Friedrich-Bonhoeffer-Institut), was a research institute of the Ma ...
in Germany, and known for two books she coauthored with Nobel prize winner
Manfred Eigen
Manfred Eigen (; 9 May 1927 – 6 February 2019) was a German Biophysical chemistry, biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions.
Eigen's research helped solve major problems in ...
.
Her research has concerned fast biochemical reactions, game-theoretic models for
molecular evolution
Molecular evolution is the process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins across generations. The field of molecular evolution uses principles of evolutionary biology and population genetics ...
, and the use of
sequence analysis
In bioinformatics, sequence analysis is the process of subjecting a DNA, RNA or peptide sequence to any of a wide range of analytical methods to understand its features, function, structure, or evolution. Methodologies used include sequence alignm ...
of DNA and RNA in studying the early history of biological evolution.
Education and career
Winkler is the daughter of , an Austrian physicist who worked at the
Aerodynamics Research Institute
The ''Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt'' (AVA) in Göttingen was one of the four predecessor organizations of the 1969 founded "German Research and Experimental Institute for Aerospace", which in 1997 was renamed in German Aerospace Center (DLR).
...
in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
at the time of her birth. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, her father moved to
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries,