Biography

I was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1941. Now I am retired, live mostly in Toggenburg, give advice, if asked and also otherwise.

In between things happened. Major stations in my life have been the first 15 years in Budapest, during and after the war, the Hungarian uprising in 1956,

Zürich, the formative years at the University of Zürich, (1959-1967),
some fine tuning as postdoc in Zürich, Leiden and Edmonton (1968-1970).

Productive, useful (?) years (1970-2004) in the industry, Roche , Givaudan, Givaudan-Roure, Givaudan, the independent company.

I also had guardians and guides, helpers and companions, too many to be mentioned. Without them I could not have achieved anything.

During the 34 years in the industry I tried to do and lead good industrial research.
To keep the balance between goal oriented, or even marketing oriented science and the scientific curiosity, the constant look for the unexpected, the unforeseen, is  not trivial.
To convince management, that the latter is the best and most productive way to the former kept me busy.

Interesting times!

I thank the participants and especially the lecturers at this symposium. Their presence is a great honour for me.

Prof. Dr. Georg Fráter
Senior Scientific Adviser