Heino Finkelmann

Heino Finkelmann(born 1945, Gronau) is a retired German organic chemist in the area of liquid-crystalline elastomers.

After earning an engineering degree, Finkelmann graduated 1972 as chemist (Diplom) from Technical University of Berlin. 1975 he earned his PhD at the Paderborn University under the supervision of Horst Stegemeyer.

After three years of Postdoc under the guidance of Helmut Ringsdorf at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Finkelmann habilitated from 1978 to 1984 at the Clausthal University of Technology with the group of Günther Rehage.

From 1984 to 2010Finkelmann was appointed Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.

One of his famous works is the concept of the side chain nematic elastomers.

• 1984: Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize from the Society of German Chemists
• 2000: Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize
• 2003: Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society
• 2004: Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Toulouse
• 2006: George William Gray Medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society