Albrecht Hofmann ’69 Ph.D.
Albrecht Hofmann is the Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute, located in Mainz, Germany. Since receiving his degree at Brown University, he has pursued a distinguished scientific career in geochemistry. He is now internationally recognized as one of the three leading geochemists of his generation.
After completing his degree, Professor Hofmann joined the scientific staff of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1980, he was invited to establish the Geochemistry Division of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and he served as director until his formal retirement in 2007. The aim of his studies is to understand the evolution of the Earth’s interior, particularly its mantle and deep crust, but also, more indirectly, its core.
Professor Hofmann has been a visiting professor at numerous prestigious universities. At present, he is a Visiting Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Institute of Columbia University, New York, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Nanjing, China.
In 1999, he was elected Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of the Harry H. Hess Medal of the American Geophysical Union, The V.M. Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society, and the Franco-German Humboldt Award.
Professor Hofmann has served as president of the European Union of Geosciences, and as president of the European Association of Geochemistry.
He is Associate Editor of the journal Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, and is member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the electronic journal G Cubed – Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.