Former ÖAW President and long-serving ÖAW member dies at the age of 100 – Faßmann: “Tuppy lived for science”
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) mourns the death of Hans Tuppy. The biochemist died at the age of 100. Tuppy was not only an excellent scientist, he held the most important positions in science and science policy. He was President of the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research (FWF), Rector of the University of Vienna, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Federal Minister for Science and Research. He was elected a corresponding member in 1961 and a real member of the mathematics and natural sciences class of the OeAW in 1967.
ÖAW President Heinz Faßmann says: “Hans Tuppy lived for science. He has shaped the Austrian research landscape in a unique way. No one else has held so many different positions in science policy and management. He was a great role model. As a scientist he was excellent, his research was considered worthy of a Nobel Prize, he supported young scientists and he was one of the most active and high-profile members of the OeAW. Until the very end, he took part in Academy activities and attended our general meetings. We are deeply saddened by the news of Tuppy’s death.”
Pioneer of molecular biology
In his research, Hans Tuppy contributed to the determination of the structure of insulin, which was clarified by Frederick Sanger (Cambridge). Sanger received the Nobel Prize for this. Tuppy was a pioneer and visionary in the field of molecular biology. As early as 1966, he was appointed one of the first two heads of the then founded OeAW Institute for Molecular Biology in Vienna. The opening of the Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP), which was the nucleus of the Vienna Biocenter, took place during his term as Minister of Science. Tuppy was significantly involved in the conception and founding of the IMBA (Institute for Molecular Biotechnology), which cooperates closely with the IMP. As a member of the supervisory board, he accompanied the successful development phase of the IMBA.
Successes as academy president
As Academy President, Hans Tuppy considered the Academy’s Graz Institute for Space Research’s simultaneous participation in ESA and NASA projects and in the then USSR’s largest space project to date – the VEGA project – a particular success during the Cold War. He supported the establishment of an ÖAW research center for immunoendocrinology in Innsbruck (1986), which was later converted into the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research and which Tuppy headed as chairman of the board of trustees for a decade.
Hans Tuppy worked well into his old age, could be found in his office at the Biocenter every day and closely followed research in his field. Most recently, Tuppy headed the search committee that prepared the election to succeed Anton Zeilinger as ÖAW President and from which Heinz Faßmann emerged as the new president.
Awards recognize Tuppy
Tuppy’s achievements in and for science and research have been recognized, among other things, with honorary doctorates, high-ranking prizes such as the Schrödinger Prize in 1973, admission to the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, the Academia Europaea and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, as well as the award of the Austrian Honorary Medal for Science and Art.