Down mountainsides and up career ladders

The paths that a person’s life and their career can take are rarely depicted as graphically as in the case of Armido Studer’s childhood and teenage years. Looking out of the window of his parents’ house in the small Swiss town of Visperterminen, he could see both the Matterhorn and a plant belonging to the Lonza chemicals company. Initially, young Studer made efforts to take the mountain path: every day he skied down the slopes and glaciers and was on his way to taking up skiing professionally.

“That was my life!” Studer explains, sitting in his office 40 years later – just before Christmas, but with no sign of any mountains or snow. Figuratively speaking, Studer decided against the Matterhorn and for the chemicals plant. He never worked in the plant, but studying chemistry at ETZ Zurich was to prepare him for it. His undergraduate studies, his PhD supervised by Dieter Seebach – “one of the best chemists worldwide”, says Studer – and a postdoc position all sparked his fascination for chemistry as well as the ambitious question whether he could make a career at university. Three decades of scientific achievements and honours, and the Leibniz Prize, provide a clear answer.

Due to some outstanding publications, Studer was appointed to a professorship in Marburg, even before his habilitation was published. Four years later, the University of Münster guided him into flatter terrains. Studer’s career continued to flourish – for which, he says, he “worked pretty hard” – but what strikes one is that he talks about other people’s achievements. He thanks his family, who keep his back free; he raves about the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Münster which, he says, “is among Europe’s, maybe even the world’s, best”; he trusts implicitly in a member of his team and his secretary to organise his research group, thus leaving him with more time for research.

Studer no longer spends time in the lab – but his eyes light up when he talks about visiting his PhD students there. Full of enthusiasm for his subject and his role as mentor, he enquires about their latest results; the father of two also takes a keen personal interest. “We don’t always have to talk about chemistry. The most important thing is to create a good atmosphere,” he says. His team is now 35-strong, and he gives them support and looks after them. 

When this expert on chemical reactions talks about his “extremely talented” group,” it is no coincidence that the word “autocatalysis” is mentioned: success attracts outstanding talent from all over the world, and they in turn advance the group … which then raises the quality again. “This enables me, too, to get better continually and not take things easy,” he says. When talking with him, there is no association anyway with taking things easy. He describes himself as being “very structured”, he separates what is important from what is not, and he emphasises that “aims should not be set too low”. One aim which he has clearly set himself – as someone who dislikes putting off work – is to keep his desk tidy as he completes work speedily, sometimes over-punctually. It is impressive that he succeeds in this without working late in the evening or at night. Spending free time with his wife is important to him.

Something equally important to this specialist in radical chemistry and catalysis is creativity, and he delights in developing ideas. “Occasionally it is said of me that I’m not ‘mainstream’,” he says with a laugh. The Leibniz Prize, worth 2.5 million euros, can help him, he says, to “dare to do crazy things”. In his daily work making applications for funding, he cannot risk all or nothing: often, solid results are needed in advance for any approval, and follow-up applications need to be borne in mind, as does financial security for jobs. Studer wants to use the Leibniz funding to embark on “very high-risk projects”: “I’ve never known this freedom,” he declares. With only himself to rely on in the old days whenever he was speeding down the mountainside, he will now know how to use this freedom. Anyway, he adds: “I’ve managed to get a Leibniz Prize, and my former colleagues have managed to win Olympic gold.” He says this without regret and without any self-praise – but with pride and respect for himself and others.

Author: André Bednarz

This article is from the brochure "Twelve months, twelve people", published in March 2026.

Download the entire brochure as a pdf file

To the other articles in the brochure "Twelve months, twelve people".