Prof. Dr. Gion Calzaferri
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Berne
Freiestrasse 3
CH-3012 Bern

E-Mail: gion.calzaferri@.unibe.ch

Current status: Emeritus Professor for Physical Chemistry.

Research interests:

Supramolecular organized molecules, clusters and complexes in zeolite cavities.

Artificial antenna systems for light harvesting, transport and trapping.

Photochemical transformation and storage of solar energy.

Chemical thermodynamics.

Occupations in research committees:                          

Member of the Swiss Federal  Commission for the Use of Solar Energy, 1981 – 1999.

Chairman of the Bernese Chemical Society, 1987 – 1989.

Chairman of the Swiss Society for Photochemistry and Photophysics, 1988 – 1989.

Member of the International Organizing Committee of the "International Conference on Photochemical Transformation and Storage of Solar Energy" (IPS), 1988 – 1996.

Organizer and Chairman of 10th International Conference on Photochemical Transformation and Storage of Solar Energy (IPS-10) Interlaken, Switzerland, July 24 – 29, 1994.

Chairman of the European Society for Quantum Solar Energy Conversion (QUANTSOL), 1995 –1998.

Member of the Research Board German National Research Society (DFG), focus project New Phenomena of Silicon Chemistry, 1995 – 2002.

Member of the Editorial Board Research on Chemical Intermediates; and of other international scientific journals. Member of the Editorial Advisory Board Langmuir (ACS), 2012 – 2015.

Associate Editor of the journal „SOLAR ENERGY“; 1998 - 2019.

Awards:

Weissberger-Williams Lectureship Award, Eastman Kodak, USA, 2006.

Theodor Förster Award, 2007.

Research stays:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with Prof. Arthur Nozik in Boulder, Colorado, USA, 1984.

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, with Prof. Roald Hoffmann, 1990 and 2000.

Invited Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France, spring 2000, and Mai/June 2010.

Visiting Professor at the University of Münster, with Prof. Luisa De Cola, Germany, fall/winter/spring 2007/08.

Academic career:

Full professor for Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Berne, Switzerland, 1997.  Associate professor for Physical Chemistry, 1987; Senior assistant to Prof. Ernst Schumacher; Lecturer; Venia Docendi 1973 – 1986, Institute of Inorganic, Analytical and Physical Chemistry of the University of Berne.

Physical-chemical research in connection with pharmacy, Ciba-Geigy, Basel, Switzerland, 1972 – 1973.

Postdoc at the Department of Physical Chemistry at the University of Basel, Prof. Edgar Heilbronner, Prof. Rolf Gleiter, 1971 – 1972.

PhD thesis; examination for a doctorate, chemistry as main subject, theoretical physics and mathematics as subsidiary subjects; University of Fribourg, Switzerland: Prof. A. von Zelewski, Prof. E. Schumacher, 1971.