The German Working Group for Analytical Spectroscopy (DAAS) of the GDCh Division of Analytical Chemistry awards in even years the "Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize for Analytical Spectroscopy" to honour outstanding spectroscopic achievements of mature young scientists from universities, research institutes or industry.Outstanding work (publications, patents, etc.) from all areas of analytical spectroscopy will be recognised, but particularly from innovative fields such as spectroscopy at the nanoscale, on biomolecules or spatially resolved spectroscopy.The prize, which has been endowed with 3000 euros by the company Analytik Jena since 2020, is awarded at the analytica conference in Munich.
The "German Working Group for Applied Spectroscopy" (DASp) started awarding the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize in 1990. Since 2014, the DAAS, which emerged from the merger of the DASp and A.M.S.El. ("Arbeitskreis für Mikro- und Spurenanalyse der Elemente und Elementspezies") working groups, has continued this tradition.
Submission deadline: 31 October 2025
Objective
The German Working Group for Analytical Spectroscopy (DAAS) of the GDCh Division of Analytical Chemistry awards the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize in even-numbered years in recognition of outstanding achievements by advanced young scientists from universities, research institutes or industry. All areas of analytical spectroscopy are considered, whereby an oeuvre in innovative fields is particularly welcome.
The prize
The award comes with a certificate and prize money of 3000 euros donated by Analytik Jena. The award ceremony will take place during the Bunsen-Kirchhoff session at the analytica conference, which will be held in Munich from 24 to 26 March 2026. Following the award ceremony, the prizewinner will have the opportunity to present the award-winning research results in the form of a lecture. The costs of attending the conference will be borne by the DAAS. The decision on the awarding of the prize is made by the DAAS Board of Directors.
Submission
Please send your proposal by email and summarised in a PDF file to Prof. Dr Carsten Engelhard.
The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize 2024 was awarded on 11 April 2024 at the analytica conference in Munich to Dr Björn Meermann (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin - in recognition of his excellent developments in the field of analysis of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds.
"Dr Björn Meermann is an outstanding expert in the field of atomic and molecular absorption spectrometry. In particular, he contributed significantly to the further development of high-resolution-continuum source-graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) to analyse sum parameters of PFAS. These analytes are found in numerous consumer goods and industries due to their water-, grease- and dirt-repellent properties as well as their chemical and thermal stability. However, PFAS accumulate in the environment due to their longevity and sometimes have a harmful effect on health. Dr Meermann's contribution to the precise determination of these analytes is therefore particularly important."
The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize 2022 was awarded on 23 June 2022 at the analytica conference in Munich to Dr Carlos Abad Andrade (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA) in recognition of his excellent developments in the field of continuum source atomic absorption spectrometry (CS-AAS).
"Dr Carlos Abad Andrade is an outstanding expert in the field of atomic and molecular absorption spectrometry. In particular, he has made a significant contribution to the substantial further development of echelle spectrometers for CS-AAS. This enabled him to achieve quantitative access to elements such as boron, chlorine, fluorine and sulphur using AAS. Using the example of a Zr modifier, Dr Carlos Abad Andrade demonstrates for the first time that the time resolution of the echelle systems used enables mechanistic investigations into the effect of the modifier in the graphite furnace. Particularly noteworthy is his work on the use of CS-AAS for the analysis of isotopes, which has an accuracy that approaches that of multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). This opens up completely new possibilities for technologically highly relevant applications, such as analysing the ageing of lithium batteries or lithium analysis in blood serum."
The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize 2020 was awarded on 20 October 2020 at the virtual analytica conference to Dr. habil. Natalia P. Ivleva (Technical University of Munich, Institute of Water Chemistry and Chemical Balneology, Chair of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry) - in recognition of her excellent developments in the field of Raman microspectroscopy, in particular stable isotope Raman microspectroscopy.
"Dr Ivleva is an outstanding expert in the field of Raman spectroscopy. She was the first to show that Raman microscopy is an efficient method for characterising the nanostructures of combustion aerosol particles and is suitable for predicting their structure-related activity. In addition, Dr Ivleva established a Raman microscopy-based analytical method for the reliable identification and quantification of micro-plastic particles in environmental and food samples. Particularly noteworthy is her recent work on stable isotope Raman microspectroscopy, in which she provides a completely new, effective and non-destructive tool for 2D and 3D spectroscopic characterisation of microorganisms at the single cell level by combining it with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)."
.Presentation of the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize to Dr Zsuzsanna Heiner (2nd from right) by Dr Martin Dinse, PerkinElmer (2nd from left), Prof. Dr. Kerstin Leopold, Chairwoman of the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize jury (right) and Dr Wolfgang Buscher, Chairman of the DAAS (left). (Photo: PerkinElmer)
| Year | Awardee/Affiliation* | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dr. Björn Meermann Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin | in recognition of his excellent developments in the field of analytics per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds |
| 2022 | Dr. Carlos Abad Andrade (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA | in recognition of his excellent developments in the field of continuum source atomic absorption spectrometry (CS-AAS) |
| 2020 | Dr. habil. Natalia P. Ivleva Technical University of Munich | in recognition of her excellent developments in the field of Raman microspectroscopy, in particular stable isotope Raman microspectroscopy |
| 2018 | Dr. Zsuzsanna Heiner, School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof, Humboldt University of Berlin | In recognition of her excellent developments in the field of vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) at high repetition frequencies |
| 2017 | Prof. Dr Jacob T. Shelley | in recognition of his outstanding research work in the field of novel plasma-based ionisation sources in mass spectrometry |
| 2016 | Dr. Torsten Frosch Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology | in recognition of his excellent developments in the field of miniaturised, fibre-based Raman sensor technology for addressing environmental science, pharmaceutical and biomedical issues. His pioneering developments in fibre- and cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, which enable sensitive online detection of biogenic gases, important biomarkers and medical agents in gases, are particularly noteworthy. |
| 2015 | Prof. Dr. Martín Resano University of Zaragoza / Spain | in recognition of his outstanding developments in the use of atomic spectrometric methods for direct elemental trace analysis in solids |
| 2014 | Dr. Oliver Reich, University of Potsdam | in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of photon density wave spectroscopy |
| 2013 | Prof. Dr Maria Montes-Bayón, University of Oviedo/Spain | in recognition of her pioneering developments in the use of mass spectrometric methods for the quantitative analysis of biomarkers |
| 2012 | Prof. Dr Christoph Haisch, Munich | for his pioneering developments and applications in the field of laser-based spectrochemical analysis systems, particularly in the areas of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), optothermal spectroscopy, photoacoustic spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) |
| 2011 | Dr. Daniel Pröfrock, Helmholtz- Zentrum Geesthacht | for his outstanding work on the detection of biomolecules using covalently bound heteroatoms as well as the development of miniaturised chromatographic techniques and their coupling with element- or molecule-specific mass spectrometric methods |
| 2010 | Prof. Dr. Janina Kneipp, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | for her work on analytical laser molecular spectroscopy with resonant Raman scattering in complex microstructured systems |
| 2009 | Dr. Joachim Koch, ETH Zurich | for his analytical-spectroscopic work on laser ablation with femtosecond lasers |
| 2008 | PD Dr. Sebastian Schlücker, Würzburg | for his analytical-spectroscopic FT-IR and Raman work on label-free microscopic imaging for biomedical diagnostics |
| 2007 | Dr. Jörg Bettmer, Mainz | for his work in the field of coupling methods of chromatography and plasma mass spectrometry for the analysis of metalloproteins |
| 2006 | Dr. Volker Deckert, Dortmund | for his work on tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy |
| 2005 | Dr. Nicolas Bings, Hamburg | for his work on time-of-flight mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma, with particular emphasis on ananlytic methodological studies on the use of laser ablation, electrothermal vaporisation, hydride methods and coupling with capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of real samples |
| 2004 | Dr. Ewa Bulska, Warszawa/PL | for her work in the field of furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with special mention of the use of matrix modifiers and for the analysis of biological materials and for studies on the conservation of artefacts |
| 2003 | Dr. Sergei Boulyga, Mainz | for his work on the atomic spectrometric determination of the concentration and microdistribution of trace elements in environmental and tissue samples, particularly in connection with the reactor accident in Chernobyl |
| 2002 | Dr. Jürgen Popp, Würzburg | for his work on the spectroscopy of microparticles |
| 2001 | Dr John A. McLean, Washington, DC/USA | for his work in the field of plasma spectrometry |
| 2000 | Dr Dieter Fischer, Dresden | for the adaptation of infrared and Raman spectroscopy for process analysis |
| 1998 | Dr. Annemie Bogaerts, Antwerp/B | for her work on the modelling of glow discharges |
| 1995 | Dr. Paul W. J. M. Boumans, Bergeyk/NL | in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the development of analytical atomic spectroscopy |
| 1994 | Dr. D. Bruce Chase, Wilmington/USA | for his work on the development of Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy |
| Dr. W. J. Orville-Thomas, Salford/GB | for his work on elucidating the nature of chemical bonding | |
| 1993 | Dr Boris L'vov, St Petersburg/RUS | for his work in the field of electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy |
| 1992 | Dr. Kurt Laqua, Dortmund (1919 - 2013) | for his work in the field of analytical atomic spectroscopy |
| Dr. Arnulf Röseler, Berlin | for his work in the field of infrared ellipsometry | |
| 1991 | Dr. Hannes Aiginger, Vienna/A | for his work in the field of total internal reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis |
| Dr. Peter Wobrauschek, Vienna/A | for his work in the field of total internal reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis | |
| Dr. Joachim Knoth, Geesthacht | for his work in the field of total internal reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis | |
| Dr. Heinrich Schwenke, Geesthacht | for his work in the field of total internal reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis | |
| 1990 | Dr Günter Snatzke, Bochum | for his work in the field of circular dichroism spectroscopy |
*At the time of the award ceremony