A momentous decision was made by HUBERT SCHMIDBAUR, born in 1934 in Landsberg, Bavaria, when he applied for a top-notch scholarship in 1953 choosing "Chemistry"-and thus starting his 70-year journey in science.

He began his studies in the post-war ruins of Munich's Ludwig Maximilian University chemistry buildings, and embarked also on industry internships abroad to finally choose the sulfur labs of Max Schmidt for his PhD in 1960. He then left sulfur and Munich and went off to take care of silicon and many other elements, first in Marburg and Würzburg and...