Franz Hillenkamp

Franz Hillenkamp was born in 1936 in Essen, Germany. He attended high school in Lünen, graduating in 1955. He received a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1961. He received a Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) from the Technische Universität München in 1966 with a thesis entitled “An Absolutely Calibrated Calorimeter for the Measurement of Pulsed Laser Radiation.”

Hillenkamp was a professor at Goethe University Frankfurt in Frankfurt from 1982 to 1986. In 1986, he became a professor on the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster where he remained until his retirement in 2001.

In 1973, Hillenkamp developed a high performance laser microprobe mass spectrometer with a spatial resolution of 0.5 μm and sub-attogram limit of detection for lithium atoms.{{cite journal|last1=Hillenkamp|first1=Franz|last2=UNSöLD|first2=EBERHARD|last3=Kaufmann|first3=Raimund|last4=Nitsche|first4=Rainer|title=Laser microprobe mass analysis of organic materials|journal=Nature|volume=256|issue=5513|year=1975|pages=119–120|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/256119a0|pmid=1152979|bibcode=1975Natur.256..119H|s2cid=4163087}} This instrument was commercialized as the LAMMA 500{{cite journal|last1=Vogt|first1=H.|last2=Heinen|first2=H. J.|last3=Meier|first3=S.|last4=Wechsung|first4=R.|title=LAMMA 500 principle and technical description of the instrument|journal=Fresenius' Zeitschrift für Analytische Chemie|volume=308|issue=3|year=1981|pages=195–200|issn=0016-1152|doi=10.1007/BF00479623|s2cid=92151249}} and was one of the first laser desorption mass spectrometers to be used for mass spectrometry imaging of tissue. The later LAMMA 1000 was also based on a Hillenkamp design.{{cite journal|last1=Feigl|first1=P.|last2=Schueler|first2=B.|last3=Hillenkamp|first3=F.|title=LAMMA 1000, a new instrument for bulk microprobe mass analysis by pulsed laser irradiation|journal=International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Physics|volume=47|year=1983|pages=15–18|issn=0020-7381|doi=10.1016/0020-7381(83)87125-3|bibcode=1983IJMSI..47...15F}}

In 1985, Hillenkamp and his colleague Michael Karas used a LAMMA 1000 mass spectrometer to demonstrate the technique of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).{{cite journal |author1=Karas, M. |author2=Bachmann, D. |author3=Hillenkamp, F. |title=Influence of the Wavelength in High-Irradiance Ultraviolet Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry of Organic Molecules |journal=Anal. Chem. |volume=57 |issue= 14|pages=2935–9 |year=1985 |doi=10.1021/ac00291a042}} MALDI is an ionization method used in mass spectrometry, allowing the analysis of large biopolymers. Although Karas and Hillenkamp were the first to discover MALDI, Japanese engineer Koichi Tanaka was the first to use a similar method in 1988 to ionize proteins{{cite journal|title=Protein and polymer analyses up to m/z 100 000 by laser ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry|journal=Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry|year=1988|first=Koichi|last=Tanaka|author2=Hiroaki Waki |author3=Yutaka Ido |author4=Satoshi Akita |author5=Yoshikazu Yoshida |author6=Tamio Yoshida |author7=T. Matsuo |volume=2|issue=8|pages=151–153|doi=10.1002/rcm.1290020802|bibcode=1988RCMS....2..151T}} and shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for that work.{{cite news | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002 | date=9 October 2002 | publisher=The Nobel Foundation | url =https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2002/ | accessdate = 2013-01-31 }} Karas and Hillenkamp reported MALDI of proteins a few months later.{{cite journal |vauthors=Karas M, Hillenkamp F |title=Laser desorption ionization of proteins with molecular masses exceeding 10,000 daltons |journal=Anal. Chem. |volume=60 |issue=20 |pages=2299–301 |year=1988 |pmid=3239801 |url=http://www.klinikum.uni-muenster.de/institute/impb/research/hillenkamp/ac_60_1988_2299.pdf |doi=10.1021/ac00171a028 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623164731/http://www.klinikum.uni-muenster.de/institute/impb/research/hillenkamp/ac_60_1988_2299.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-23 }} The MALDI method of Karas and Hillenkamp subsequently became the much more widely used method.{{cite news | first=Laura | last=Spinney | title=Nobel Prize controversy | date=December 11, 2002 | url=http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0212/55.htm | work=The Scientist | accessdate=2007-08-29 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517202246/http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0212/55.htm | archive-date=May 17, 2007 }}

In 1997, Hillenkamp and Karas were awarded the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry award for their discovery of MALDI.{{cite book|author=Michael A. Grayson|title=Measuring Mass: From Positive Rays to Proteins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ7EE9MXVx0C|year=2002|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|isbn=978-0-941901-31-4|page=137}} Hillenkamp and Karas received the Karl Heinz Beckurts Award, Germany's most important award for outstanding promotion of the partnership between science and industry, in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.beckurts-stiftung.de/index.php/preistraeger#2003 |title=Preisträger - Karl Heinz Beckurts-Stiftung Preisträger |language=de |trans-title=Karl Heinz Beckurts Foundation Award Winners |accessdate=2014-08-31 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.uni-muenster.de/Rektorat/exec/upm.php?rubrik=Alle&neu=1&monat=200312&nummer=04827 |title=Professoren Hillenkamp (Münster) und Karas (Frankfurt) erhalten Karl Heinz-Beckurts-Preis 2003 |language=de |trans-title=Professors Hillenkamp (Münster) and Karas (Frankfurt) Receive Karl Heinz Beckurts Award 2003 |publisher=Universität Münster |date=2003-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304005827/http://www.uni-muenster.de/Rektorat/exec/upm.php?rubrik=Alle&neu=1&monat=200312&nummer=04827 |archive-date=2012-03-04 |accessdate=2014-08-31 }} Hillenkamp received the Thomson Medal from the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation in 2003.{{cite journal|title=ASMS members given top MS awards|journal=Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry|volume=14|issue=11|year=2003|pages=A33|issn=1044-0305|doi=10.1016/S1044-0305(03)00743-8|s2cid=192590730}}

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics created a postdoctoral fellowship in honor of Franz Hillenkamp. The SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship in Problem-Driven Biomedical Optics and Analytics offers an annual grant of US $75,000. This fellowship aims to facilitate the translation of cutting-edge biomedical optics and biophotonics technologies into practical applications within clinical settings, ultimately contributing to advancements in human healthcare.

• History of mass spectrometry

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081012133101/http://masspec.scripps.edu/mshistory/greatnames/hillenkamp.php Franz Hillenkamp on masspec.scripps.edu]
• [http://campus.uni-muenster.de/fileadmin/einrichtung/impb/MALDI/MALDI-Pictures/hillenkamp_bio.htm Franz Hillenkamp biography on Munster University website]

{{Thomson Medal Recipients}}

{{Recipients of the Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry Award}}

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Category:Mass spectrometrists

Category:Scientists from North Rhine-Westphalia

Category:20th-century German chemists

Category:1936 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:Thomson Medal recipients

Category:People from Essen