Heinz Falk
Heinz Falk (born April 29, 1939, in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria) is an Austrian chemist and professor emeritus of organic chemistry at Johannes Kepler University Linz. He is the editor of Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Compounds.
His research focuses on how organic pigments absorb and react to light. He studies their structures, how they are built, their stereochemistry, and their photochemistry, with a special focus on natural light-sensitive pigments like hypericin. He also looks at related natural compounds and potential applications, including ideas for blood-substitute-like compounds.
Education and family: Falk studied chemistry at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1966 under Karl Schlögl. He spent a year at ETH Zürich in 1971 and completed his habilitation at Vienna in 1972. He has been married to Rotraud Falk since 1966, and they have a son named Alexander.
Career: From 1966 to 1979 he worked at the University of Vienna, rising from assistant to associate professor. In 1979 he moved to Johannes Kepler University Linz as a full professor and founded the Institute of Organic Chemistry. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences from 1989 to 1991. He retired in 2008 as professor emeritus. In 2005 he was ranked among the top scientists in Upper Austria (No. 3 by OÖ Nachrichten).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:51 (CET).