"Great thinker"
Biochemist Hans Tuppy passes away at the age of 99
He shaped the Austrian science system both as an internationally renowned biochemist and as a minister. Now Hans Tuppy has died at the age of 99.
Born in Vienna, he would have celebrated his 100th birthday on July 22, but according to Parte, he passed away on April 24. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) paid tribute to Tuppy as a "great thinker and visionary". For Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, the deceased was a "world-class biochemist who, despite his scientific successes, also left his mark as a designer".
Tuppy had a remarkable career in university politics and achieved international success as a researcher. His broad scientific contribution ranged from the elucidation of the structure of insulin to the biochemistry of blood group substances. As a young scientist, Tuppy was involved in Nobel Prize-worthy developments and created a "small oasis" in the "Austrian university desert" of the 1950s with the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Vienna, as the biochemist Gottfried Schatz once put it.
The call of politics
He helped shape the Austrian science system as Rector of the University of Vienna, President of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and as a minister. Step by step, Tuppy climbed the academic career ladder. From 1970 to 1972, he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna. In 1974, he was elected President of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), which was founded in 1967, a position he held until 1982.
In 1983, Tuppy was elected Rector of the University of Vienna for two years, at the same time chairing the Rectors' Conference. In 1985, he was elected President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, a position he relinquished early in 1987 in order to follow the call of the Austrian People's Party to the post of Science Minister. Two years later (1989), Tuppy had to vacate the minister's chair for Erhard Busek in the course of an ÖVP government reshuffle.
Active scientist until old age
He withdrew back into everyday university life until he retired at the age of 70. However, he continued to offer lectures and examinations even after that. In 2022, Tuppy chaired a search committee that prepared the election of the new ÖAW President.
Tuppy received numerous awards and honors for his life's work, including honorary doctorates, the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Art and the Wittgenstein Prize of the Austrian Research Foundation. His contribution to biochemistry and molecular biology is also honored by the annual "Hans Tuppy Lectures".
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