Hans-Joachim Freund

Hans-Joachim Freund is a Research Professor and Director at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. He has held prestigious roles such as Professor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (1987–1996) and Associate Professor at Universität Erlangen (1983–1987). His research focuses on surface chemistry, catalysis, and nanoscience, with notable contributions to oxide surface dynamics and model catalyst systems.

Freund obtained a Vordiplom (B.S.) in Chemistry and Physics from Universität zu Köln (1972), followed by a Diplom (M.Sc.) (1975) and PhD (1978). He completed his Habilitation in 1983. He has been honored with the Leibniz Award (1995), Fellowship from the American Physical Society (2001), and the Gabor A. Somorjai Award (2007).

He has organized major conferences, including the Gordon Research Conference on Reactions at Surfaces (2003) and the DIET XI Workshop (2007). His professional service includes roles on editorial boards of journals like Surface Science and Journal of Catalysis, and memberships in the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and Academia Europaea.