Michael Grätzel elected to the German Academy of Sciences
Prof. Michael Grätzel, director of the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI-EPFL), has been designated as a new Member of the German Academy of Sciences - Leopoldina.
The German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina by the epithet given by the emperor Leopold I, is one of the oldest learned societies, having being founded in 1652, thus being about as old as the Royal Society (~1646-1662).
While the Society is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge from a purely scientific perspective it also has a counselling role for German policymakers on a variety of scientific matters, even if about one third of its 1500 members come from other countries.
Members of the German Academy of Sciences are selected upon a multistage nomination process by existing Academy members and elected by the ruling organism, the Presidium.