He shaped the Austrian science system as an internationally renowned biochemist and as a minister. Hans Tuppy has now passed away at the age of 99.
The Viennese native would have celebrated his centenary on July 22, but according to Parte he died on April 24. Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) praised 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 completed a distinguished career in higher education politics and achieved international success as a researcher. His broad scientific contributions ranged from the elucidation of insulin structure to the biochemistry of blood group substances. As a young scientist, Tuppy was involved in developments worthy of the Nobel Prize, creating, as the biochemist Gottfried Schatz once put it, a “little oasis” in the “Austrian university desert” of the 1950s with the university’s Institute of Biochemistry. from Vienna.
The call of politics
He helped shape the Austrian science system as rector of the University of Vienna, chairman of the FWF Science Fund, the Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and as a minister. Step by step, Tuppy climbed the academic ladder. From 1970 to 1972 he was dean of the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. In 1974 he was elected chairman of the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research (FWF), founded in 1967, a position he held until 1982.
In 1983, Tuppy was elected Rector of the University of Vienna for two years and at the same time chaired the Rectors’ Conference. In 1985 he was elected chairman of the ÖAW, a position he gave up in early 1987 to respond to the ÖVP’s call for the post of Minister of Science. Two years later (1989), Tuppy had to leave the ministerial seat for Erhard Busek as part of a reshuffle of the ÖVP government.
Active scientist well into old age
He withdrew from everyday university life until he retired at the age of 70. But even after that he continued to offer lectures and exams. In 2022, Tuppy headed a search committee that prepared the election of the new ÖAW president.
Tuppy received numerous prizes and awards 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 recognized by the annual “Hans Tuppy Lectures”.
Source: Krone
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