{{short description|German professional society of chemists}} {{Infobox organization | name = Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker | image = GDCh-Logo.svg | image_border = | image_size = 200 px | caption = | formation = {{Start date|1949}} (1867) | type = Learned society | headquarters = Frankfurt | location = Germany | membership = 30,000 | language = German | leader_title = President | leader_name = Prof. Dr. Peter R. Schreiner | key_people = | num_staff = | budget = | website = {{URL|www.gdch.de}} }}
The '''German Chemical Society''' ({{langx|de|Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh}}) is a learned society and professional association founded in 1949 to represent the interests of German chemists in local, national and international contexts. GDCh "brings together people working in chemistry and the molecular sciences and supports their striving for positive, sustainable scientific advance – for the good of humankind and the environment, and a future worth living for."<ref name="gdch_about">Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh), [https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/gdch/about-us-mission-statement-and-history.html About us, Mission Statement and History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930064224/https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/gdch/about-us-mission-statement-and-history.html |date=2019-09-30 }}</ref>
==History== The earliest precursor of today's GDCh was the German Chemical Society (''{{lang|de|Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft zu Berlin}}'', DChG). Adolf von Baeyer was prominent among the German chemists who established DChG in 1867; and August Wilhelm von Hofmann was the first president.<ref name="gdch_about" /> This society was modeled after the British Chemical Society, which was the precursor of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Like its British counterpart, DChG sought to foster the communication of new ideas and facts throughout Germany and across international borders.<ref name="Lagowski">Lagowski, J. J. (1991). [http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/ed068p1 "A British Sesquicentennial,"] ''Journal of Chemical Education,'' Vol 68, No. 1, p. 1; acknowledging the sesquicentennial of The Chemical Society in London, which eventually became the Royal Society of Chemistry; retrieved 2011-06-08</ref>
In 1946, the current organization was created by a merger of the German Chemical Society (DChG) and the Association of German Chemists (''{{lang|de|Verein Deutscher Chemiker}}'', VDCh).
Honorary Members of the GDCh have included Otto Hahn, Robert B. Woodward, Jean-Marie Lehn, George Olah and other eminent scientists.<ref name="gdch_ehrenmitglieder">GDCh, [https://www.gdch.de/gdch/preise-und-auszeichnungen/ehrenmitgliedschaft.html Ehrenmitgliedschaft] {{in lang|de}}</ref>
==Activities== Scientific publications of the society include ''{{lang|de|Nachrichten aus der Chemie}},''<ref>GDCh, [https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/journals/membership-magazine-nachrichten-aus-der-chemie.html Membership magazine ''Nachrichten aus der Chemie''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930064252/https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/journals/membership-magazine-nachrichten-aus-der-chemie.html |date=2019-09-30 }}</ref> ''Angewandte Chemie,'' ''Chemistry: A European Journal,'' ''European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry,'' ''European Journal of Organic Chemistry,'' ''ChemPhysChem,'' ''ChemSusChem,'' ''ChemBioChem,'' ''ChemMedChem,'' ''ChemCatChem,'' ''ChemistryViews,'' ''Chemie Ingenieur Technik'' and ''Chemie in unserer Zeit.''<ref>GDCh, [https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/journals/research-journals.html Research journals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930064258/https://en.gdch.de/main-navi/journals/research-journals.html |date=2019-09-30 }}</ref>
In the 21st century, the society has become a member of ChemPubSoc Europe, which is an organization of 16 European chemical societies. This European consortium was established in the late 1990s as many chemical journals owned by national chemical societies were amalgamated.<ref>ChemPubSoc Europe, [http://www.wiley-vch.de/vch/journals/2111/chempubsoc-eu.html mission]; [http://www.wiley-vch.de/vch/journals/2111/chempubsoc-eu_members.html participating societies]</ref>
===Prizes and awards=== The society acknowledges individual achievement with prizes and awards, including medals originally conferred by the predecessor organizations DChG and VDCh: * Hofmann Medal (''Hofmann Denkmünze''), first awarded to Henri Moissan, 1903<ref name="gdch_preise">Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh), [https://www.gdch.de/gdch/preise-und-auszeichnungen/gdch-preise.html GDCh-Preise] {{in lang|de}}</ref> * Liebig Medal (''Liebig Denkmünze''), first awarded to Adolf von Baeyer, 1903<ref name="gdch_preise"/> * Gmelin-Beilstein Medal (''Gmelin-Beilstein Denkmünze''), first awarded to Paul Walden and Maximilian Pflücke, 1954<ref name="gdch_preise"/> * Hermann Staudinger Prize (''Hermann-Staudinger-Preis''), first awarded to Werner Kern and Günter Victor Schulz in 1971. * Meyer-Galow Award For Business Chemistry (''Der Meyer-Galow-Preis für Wirtschaftschemie''), first awarded to Susanne Röhrig, 2012 [https://en.gdch.de/gdch/foundations/meyer-galow-foundation.html].
==See also== * List of chemistry societies * Royal Society of Chemistry, 1841<ref name="Lagowski"/> * Société Chimique de France, 1857<ref name="Lagowski"/> * American Chemical Society, 1876<ref name="Lagowski"/> * Chemical Society of Japan, 1878<ref name="Lagowski"/>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.gdch.de/ Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker]; [https://en.gdch.de/ English website]
{{Chemistry societies}}
{{Authority control}} Category:Organizations established in 1867 Category:Chemistry education Category:1949 establishments in Germany Category:Scientific organizations established in 1949 Category:Society of German Chemists Category:Scientific societies based in Germany