Biography
After training as a chemical technician, Schwarz remained true to the Technical University of Berlin: He earned his doctorate and habilitation under the guidance of natural-products chemist F. Bohlmann and is currently a professor of Organic Chemistry there. He held numerous visiting appointments in Great Britain, Switzerland, Israel, France, Japan, and Australia. His research is inextricably linked to mass spectrometry and gas-phase chemistry, especially the activation of C-C and C-H bonds and the role of metals in catalysis. Since 2008, Helmut Schwarz has served as president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which promotes academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad.