Martin Stratmann

After finishing his Abitur (A-levels) in 1973 at the grammar school in Traben-Trarbach (Rhineland-Palatinate, south-west Germany), and after his military service, Stratmann studied chemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum. Stratmann received his diploma about NMR-analysis of the diffusion of anions and cations in SrCl2 in 1979. He did his doctorate on the topic of electrochemical analysis of phase transitions in corrosion layers at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) in 1982. Between 1983 and 1984, he continued his research at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (USA) as a scholarship holder of the Max Planck Society. After his return to the MPIE, he worked until 1987 as a scientific assistant in the group of corrosion science. In 1987, he became head of this group. In 1994 Stratmann was appointed to a professorship for corrosion and surface engineering as a successor of H. Kaesche at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg (Bavaria) and remained there till 1999. In 2000, Stratmann returned to the MPIE as a scientific member and director of the department "Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering". Two years later he was chosen to be the chief-executive (rotationally until 2010).

From 2006 until 2008, Stratmann chaired the chemical-physical-technical section of the Max Planck Society and was appointed vice president of the Max Planck Society in 2008. He is the manager of the Minerva Foundation, an affiliate of the Max Planck Society, since 2008.