We received the sad news that one of the most influential and highly respected scientists, science policymaker and politician of the 2^nd Republic of Austria, Hans Tuppy, passed away in his 100^th year of life. In his long, and active lifespan his footprint, dedication, and impact as a pioneering researcher in the field of biochemistry, as an academic teacher, and as a leading figure in the research/science policy arena – never denying his attitude as a scientist – cannot be overrated.

Hans Tuppy served this country and the scientific community of Austria as President of the Austrian Science Fund (1974–1982), as Rector of the University of Vienna (1983–1985), as President of the Austria Academy of Sciences (1985–1987), as Minister for Science and Research (1987–1989), and as Chair of the Board of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna (2003–2008). As a scholar in the best sense of the word he was Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (since 1965), Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (since 1967), and Member of the Academia Europaea (since 1989).

To CeMM, Hans Tuppy’s support – since the very beginning of the institute – was of vital importance. He was a strong supporter of CeMM since its early days and his respect for and his trust in the work of the institute will be dearly missed.

We will remember Hans Tuppy as a personality who was always open for an exchange of opinion and who was eager to hear different views which he loved to challenge in a respectful way. Occasions to do so were luckily plenty: Not only as a participant of the 1^st CeMM conference in 2007, and of the opening ceremony of the CeMM building in 2011, but also as a regular visitor of several Landsteiner Lectures. He attended the 15^th CeMM anniversary celebration and joined the crowd celebrating the 60th birthday of the CeMM Director Giulio Superti-Furga in 2022. The last visit Hans Tuppy paid to CeMM, was dedicated to ÖAW membership discussions held at the institute in October 2023.

Hans Tuppy was also a man with a good sense of humor. He spontaneously agreed to be part of the cover of the CeMM Research Report 2022, homage to the 1967 Beatles album cover Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. There he was pictured next to ‘Shoulders of Giants’ Dorothy Hodgkin and Salavdor E. Luria.

We felt extremely honored as Hans Tuppy followed our invitation to become CeMM Testimonial in the 2009 edition of the CeMM Research Report. His statement then read as follows:

“Molecular medicine has been well on the way, from the first sequencing of a protein, insulin, and from the original modeling of DNA structure, some 50 years ago, to present-day molecule-based diagnostics and therapeutics. Yet the enormous potential that this basic biomedical research bears for medicine still has to come to full fruition. CeMM has been established and shaped at the right time and in the right place: it has every chance and it has already shown to contribute substantially to the ongoing biomedical progress: gaining relevant molecular insights and helping to translate them into new and improved methods of prophylactic and clinical medicine. May civil society and polity amply support this promising and salutary endeavor.”

The Austrian scientific community owes Hans Tuppy a lot, and the CeMM Directors and CeMM Faculty express their gratitude for all he did for the institute. His never-ending work commitment and dedication to science will continue to inspire us also in future!

For the entire CeMM Community
Giulio Superti-Furga, Scientific Director and Anita Ender, Administrative Director