Karl Ziegler Foundation

The Karl Ziegler Foundation was established in 1993 as a non-independent foundation within the German Chemical Society and was brought to public attention in 1998, on the occasion of the namesake’s 100th birthday, through its first foundation activities. The founder is Karl Ziegler’s daughter, Dr. Marianne Witte, who established this foundation in memory of her father, the 1963 Nobel laureate, Professor Dr. Dr h.c. Karl Ziegler (1898–1973).

With prize money of EUR 50,000.00 and a gold medal, the Karl Ziegler Award is one of the most highly endowed German distinctions in the field of chemistry.

Since 1998, the foundation has also awarded the Karl Ziegler Young Scientist Awards, preferably to younger scientists. The Karl Ziegler Young Scientist Award was redesigned in 2022. Through the award, the foundation enables early-career group leaders to fund a postdoc for one year. All Karl Ziegler awardees are expected to work in the wide-ranging research fields of the namesake: inorganic and organic chemistry, catalysis and polymer chemistry.

Karl Ziegler was the first Chair of the German Chemical Society after its foundation.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Mecking from the University of Konstanz was awarded the prize in recognition of his outstanding and pioneering work. In this work, he uniquely combines an in-depth mechanistic understanding of transition-metal polymerisation catalysts with the synthesis and characterisation of novel, recyclable polymer materials. The prize, endowed with 50,000 euros and a gold medal, was presented to him as part of the Science Forum Chemistry on 29 September 2025.