Professor Dr Hans-Peter Thier

The German Food Chemical Society and all friends and colleagues mourn for Hans-Peter Thier, Professor of Food Chemistry and former Director of the Institute for Food Chemistry at the University of Münster. He unexpectedly passed away on September 20, 2005, at the age of 68.

Born on July 3, 1937 in Göttingen, he studied Pharmacy in Freiburg and Food Chemistry in Erlangen, where he obtained his PhD degree in 1964.  From 1965 until 1966 he obtained practical experience as a food chemist at the Official Food Inspection State Laboratory in Stuttgart and in 1967 within the Consulting Company for Nestlé products in La-Tour-de-Peilz in Switzerland.  He then moved back to the Institute for Applied Chemistry of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, where he received his postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation) in 1972.  In 1974 he joined the University of Münster as a senior scientist and professor and in 1979 was appointed full professor. He educated many generations of students to become experts in food chemistry.

The main fields of his research were the analysis of pesticides and polysaccharides in foods. He developed new analytical methods for residues and contaminants rendering possible an authentic assessment of the residue situation with regard to consumer protection.

In recognition of his contributions to research and teaching he was honoured by the German Food Chemical Society with the Award of the Young Scientist in 1973, and by the German Chemical Society with the highly esteemed Joseph-König Memorial Medal in 1992.

The research work of Hans-Peter Thier was linked with highly qualified teaching. This was acknowledged by his appointment to many scientific committees. He was member of the Executive Board of the Food Chemical Society, where he chaired the working group “Pesticides” for many years.  Furthermore, he was member of two committees of the Senate of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and a member of the Federal Health Council. Until 1989 he headed the DFG working group “Analysis of Plant Protection Products”. He was also a member of the advisory board of the German Federal Institute of Consumer Protection and Veterinary Medicine.

Hans-Peter Thier was an outstanding representative of Food Chemistry, excellent in research and teaching, feeling responsible for dissemination of knowledge within the scientific community and in the public interest.

Karl Eichner