Wolfgang P. Baumeister (born November 22, 1946 in

Wesseling Wesseling () is an industrial German city on the Rhine bordering Cologne city on the south. With three chemical plants and a petroleum refinery within its city limits, it has an important place in the international petrochemical industry. Histor ...

bordering

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) is a German molecular biologist and biophysicist. His research has been pivotal in the development of Cryoelectron tomography.

Education and career

After completing his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'', Wolfgang Baumeister studied biology, chemistry, and physics from 1966 to 1967 at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

and from 1967 to 1969 at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. At the

Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) (german: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf) was founded in 1965 as the successor organisation to Düsseldorf's Medical Academy of 1907 and was named after German poet Heinrich Heine. Followi ...

he was a graduate student from 1970 to 1973 and a research associate from 1973 to 1980 in the department of biophysics. He received his

Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in 1973 and his

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1978. From 1981 to 1982 he was a Heisenberg Fellow at the physics department of the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

of England's

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. From 1983 to 1987 he was group leader (with rank C3, Professor Extraordinarius) of the “Molecular Structural Biology” working group at the

Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich. The institute was founded in 1973 by the merger of three formerly independent institutes: the Max Planck ...

Martinsried Martinsried is one of Munich's two science suburbs. It is a section of Planegg municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany. Martinsried is best known as the location of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck Inst ...

near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The MPI's research department of “Molecular Structural Biology” does research involving molecular biological structures revealed by

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

, cryoelectron tomography, protein and cell structure, and

protein degradation Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called protease ...

He was an ''außerplanmäßiger Professor'' from 1984 to 1987 at the

University of Düsseldorf A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

and is since 1987 an ''außerplanmäßiger Professor'' in the Faculty of Chemistry of the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

. Since 1988 he is the head of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry's department of structural biology. Since 2000 he has also been an honorary professor in the Faculty of Physics of the Technical University of Munich. Baumeister has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including ''

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research articles, var ...

'', the '' Journal of Microscopy'', the ''

Journal of Structural Biology The ''Journal of Structural Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal concerning the structural analysis of biological materials at all levels of organization and the functional consequences of such observations. The editors-in-chief are A. ...

'', and ''

Trends in Cell Biology ''Trends in Cell Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal by Elsevier BV. Abstracting and indexing ''Trends in Cell Biology'' is abstracted and indexed the following bibliographic databases: * Science Citation Index Expanded *Scopus ...

''. He is now the editor-in-chief of ''

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications ''Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biochemistry and biophysics. It was established in 1959 by Academic Press and is currently published by Elsevier. The e ...

''.

Honors and awards

Baumeister was elected a member of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

in 2000, 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 ...

in 2001, and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2010. In 2003 he was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. He has won many prizes, including in 1998 the

Otto Warburg Medal The Otto Warburg Medal is awarded annually by the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (German: ''Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie'' or ''GBM'') to honour scientists who have contributed important work in the field ...

, in 2003 both the Louis-Jeantet Prize and the I. & H. Wachter Award, in 2005 both the

Harvey Prize Harvey Prize is an annual Israeli award for breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as contributions to peace in the Middle East granted by the Technion in Haifa. History The prize is named for industrialist and inventor Leo Harvey. T ...

and the

Schleiden Medal The Schleiden Medal is an award given by the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the National Academy of Germany, to honour outstanding achievements in the field of cellular biology. The award is named after botanist Matthias Jakob Schleiden. Recipie ...

, in 2006 the

Ernst Schering Prize The Ernst Schering Prize is awarded annually by the Ernst Schering Foundation for especially outstanding basic research in the fields of medicine, biology or chemistry anywhere in the world. Established in 1991 by the Ernst Schering Research Found ...

, in 2008 the Bijvoet Medal of the Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research of

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, and in 2018 the

Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine The Ernst Jung Prize is a prize awarded annually for excellence in biomedical sciences. The Ernst Jung Foundation, funded by Hamburg merchant Ernst Jung in 1967, has awarded the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine, now €300,000, since 1976, and the lif ...

. * 2022

Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics The Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for outstanding contributions in biophysics". Named in honor of Alexander Hollaender, it has been awarded every three years since 1998. Recipien ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumeister, Wolfgang 1948 births Living people German biophysicists German molecular biologists Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf alumni Academic staff of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Max Planck Society people Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Bijvoet Medal recipients Max Planck Institute directors