Richard Zsigmondy (April 1, 1865 – September 23, 1929) was an Austrian chemist who received the Nobel Prize in 1925 for his pioneering and fundamental work on colloidal systems. In 1903, together with Heinrich Siedentopf, he invented the ultramicroscope, which was developed to analyze submicroscopic particles. A few years later Richard Zsigmondy constructed innovative types of membrane filters (1918 – 1922). Using his new instruments, Zsigmondy studied gold nanoparticles and invented the term “protective colloids”. In addition to these instrumental developments, he investigated fundamental theoretical processes such as light scattering or “Brownian molecular motion”. Richard Zsigmondy’s scientific work nowadays has numerous applications in colloid chemistry, but even more importance in biochemistry and bacteriology.
The Colloid Society can award the Zsigmondy Scholarship to young scientists who intend to continue their scientific work in the field of colloid chemistry or related fields and who have proven their scientific qualifications. The scholarship consists of a certificate and an amount of €1500. The scholarship holder is free to dispose of the amount of money.
Award winner since 1961
- 1961 Klaus Kühn, Heidelberg
- 1961 Rolf Schulz, Mainz
- 1961 Klaus Hummel, Hannover
- 1963 Hanns-Georg Kilian, Marburg
- 1963 Eric Brandt, Kiel
- 1965 Werner Funke, Stuttgart
- 1965 Klaus Ebert, München
- 1969 Gerhard Lagaly, München
- 1973 Werner Borchard, Clausthal-Zellerfeld
- 1975 Helmut Knözinger, München
- 1981 Bernd Heise, Ulm
- 1983 G. Platz, Bayreuth
- 1991 Gero Decher, Mainz
- 1993 Erwin Klumpp, Jülich
- 1995 Frank Simon, Dresden
- 1997 Andreas Pohlmeier, Jülich
- 2001 Regine v. Klitzing, Berlin
- 2003 Michael Himmelhaus, Heidelberg
- 2005 Andreas Fery, Bayreuth
- 2007 Elmar Bonaccurso, Mainz
- 2009 Alexander Wittemann, Bayreuth
- 2011 Cristina Giordano, Potsdam-Golm
- 2013 Dmitry Volodkin, Potsdam
- 2015 Matthias Karg, Düsseldorf
- 2017 Annette Andrieu-Brunsen, Darmstadt
- 2019 André Gröschel, Duisburg-Essen
- 2021 Tobias A.F. König, Dresden
- 2022 Juliane Simmchen, Dresden