Charpentier, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Emmanuel Charpentier, director of the Berlin Max Planck Research Center for the Science of Pathogens and Nobel laureate in chemistry, has been appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The head of the Catholic Church appointed a French microbiologist as an ordinary member, the Holy See announced on Tuesday.

The scientists of the Academy give advice to the Pope. According to the Vatican, it serves to promote progress in the natural sciences and to ensure an exchange between faith and science.

Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) congratulated the scientist: “The appointment by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences undoubtedly represents a special honor for the outstanding researcher Emanuel Charpentier, who has received many honours.”

The appointment was the third from the field this year, it said in a message from the Senate chancellor. Accordingly, the head of the Catholic Church had already appointed Jutta Allmender (chairman of the Berlin Science Center for Social Research) and climate researcher Otmar Edenhofer (director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research and professor at the Technical University of Berlin) to the committee. .

Emmanuel Charpentier founded the Max Planck Research Center in 2018 and has headed it ever since. The institute conducts research on pathogens, i.e. bacteria and viruses. Experts consider regulatory mechanisms in the processes of infection and immunity.

Charpentier received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his co-development of the Crisp/Cas9 gene scissor.