Professor Andreas Kornath deceased

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After graduating from high school in 1985, Kornath began studying chemistry at the University of Dortmund, which he completed in 1989. He continued his academic career with a diploma thesis under the supervision of Professor Rolf Minkwitz on the chemistry of mercaptosulphonium salts, which he successfully completed in September 1990.

In 1993, he received his doctorate with a thesis on the chemistry of chalcogen and picogenium salts and triphenylsilysulphanes under Professor Minkwitz in Dortmund.

This was followed by a post-doctorate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, USA. Kornath then returned to Germany and worked as a research assistant at the University of Dortmund from January 1995 to September 2000. During this time, he also spent three months at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Andreas Kornath habilitated in Dortmund in 2000 with a thesis on the structural elucidation of ligand-free metal cluster reactivity of bare anions. Kornath subsequently worked there as a lecturer and later as a senior research associate in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Between April 2005 and July 2006, he held professorships in inorganic chemistry at the universities of Rostock and Munich. From August 2006, he worked as a university lecturer in Dortmund before taking up a professorship in inorganic chemistry at LMU in April 2007, which he held until the end of his life.

Kornath's research focused on extremely strong acids, also known as superacids. He was particularly interested in the associated phenomena, which are important not only on Earth but also in interstellar space.

Acid strength plays a decisive role in numerous chemical reactions in biological and technical processes. Superacids reach the highest known acidities and therefore offer enormous potential for the investigation of highly reactive intermediates as well as for applications in technical processes.

Andreas Kornath's scientific work, characterized by his commitment to research and teaching, has significantly enriched the world of inorganic chemistry. His legacy will endure through his numerous publications and the generations of chemists he trained and inspired.