Lothar Jaenicke (1923–2015) zum Gedächtnis

Abstract

Abstract Among the post-war European biochemists, L. Jaenicke (1923–2015) stands out as a distinctive character with bright ideas and professional elegance, yet with personal modesty. His contributions to diverse fields such as C1 metabolic pathways, signal compounds (aquatic sex attractants) of brown algae and chemotaxis appear as distinctive features not covered by his peers. His rich scientific œuvre is documented in 291 journal articles, nine books, and a huge number of almost 570 book reviews, recensions, biographies and commentaries on the politics of science and the history of biochemistry. A quantitative approach is attempted here to make his diversified life’s work more transparent through graphical analysis by the novel method of ergography. At a glance, his different strands of activities stand out clearly and speak for themselves, without the need for excessive verbal interpretation.