Peter FRATZL
Fellows
2017
Prof. Dr.

Director, Professor, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany



Inaugurated for:

his seminal contributions to the understaning of the relation between hierarchical structure and mechanical behavior of biological materials and bio-inspired composite materials.

Short CV

Peter Fratzl is director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, heading the Department of Biomaterials. He received an engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France, and a doctorate in Physics from the University of Vienna, Austria. He is honorary professor at Humboldt University Berlin and at Potsdam University. Before moving to Potsdam in 2003, he has been holding professor positions in materials physics at the Universities of Vienna and of Leoben, Austria. Currently he is serving as chair of the Chemistry, Physics and Technology Section of the Max Planck Society.

Peter Fratzl’s lab studies the relation between (hierarchical) structure and mechanical behaviour of biological and bio-inspired composite materials, and conducts research on osteoporosis and bone formation and regeneration. His research interests include biomaterials systems for mechanosensing and actuation. Peter Fratzl has published more than 500 papers in journals and books.

Peter Fratzl also serves on editorial advisory boards for a number of journals in materials science, biology and interdisciplinary science. Recent awards include the Max Planck Research Award 2008 from the Humboldt Foundation, the Leibniz Prize 2010 from the German Science Foundation and an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier, France (2010). He was elected Fellow of the Materials Research Society (2012), Member of the Austrian Academy of Science (2007), the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, ACATECH (2013), the Academy of Science and Literature Mainz and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (both in 2015).