Manfred T. Reetz

Manfred Theodor Reetz (13 August 1943 – 23 April 2026) was a German chemist and professor of organic chemistry, who served as director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research from 1991 until 2011. His research focused on directed evolution, enzymes in organic chemistry, and stereoselective biocatalysis.

Life and career Reetz was born in Hirschberg, Gau Lower Silesia on 13 August 1943, and immigrated to the US in 1952.

Honors and awards Among the awards that Reetz received are the Leibniz Prize (1989), the (2005), the (2006), the ACS Arthur C. Cope Award (2009), the Tetrahedron Prize (2011), the Otto Hahn Prize (2011), and the International Kyoto Conference on New Aspects of Organic Chemistry (IKCOC) Prize (2012). He was elected to the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 1997. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.

Selected publications