In a ceremony on campus in May 2023, Weizmann President Prof. Alon Chen bestowed the Weizmann Award in the Sciences and Humanities on Prof. Dr. Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society.
The award recognizes Prof. Dr. Strattman’s visionary leadership in science in Germany, with profound worldwide impact and his contribution to the field of electrochemistry and corrosion science, including revealing new insights with implications for industry and the economy. The award also recognizes his passionate championing of scientific cooperation between Germany and Israel, through his stewardship of the Minerva-Weizmann Program, which has advanced numerous research projects across the natural and exact sciences and which buttresses robust diplomatic and cultural ties between Israel and Germany; as well as his ardent promotion of Israeli science.
Moreover, Prof. Chen—who is himself an External Member of the Max Planck Society—highlighted Prof. Dr. Strattman’s steadfast encouragement of and adherence to the values of academic freedom and curiosity-driven basic science, and, as indicated in the scroll of appreciation bestowed upon him, “his abiding belief in the human mind, as the fundamental drivers of scientific discovery and innovation—improving lives and health, and enabling the flourishing of humanity.”