Professor Dr. Ladislav Bohatý, chair of crystallography in the Institute for Crystallography at the University of Cologne, will celebrate his 60 th birthday at 8 th of November 2008. Prof. Bohatý is a member of the advisory board of Crystal Research and Technology and of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kristallwachstum und Kristallzüchtung (DGKK) with membership number 008.
Ladislav Bohatý was born in Karlovy Vary (Bohemia). After primary and secondary school he obtained his examination in June 1966. As early as a pupil he was very interested in collecting and classifying of minerals, which was benefited by the vicinity of the Erzgebirge and other Bohemian mining centres. Thus, he decided to study mineralogy at the University of Cologne after migration to West Germany. Starting in winter semester 1967/68 he was fascinated by Prof. Siegfried Haussühl´s lively lectures and graspable experiments in the field of crystal growth and physics. Especially physical characterisation of single crystals should appoint his scientific development und career. In October 1971 he finished his diploma thesis titled The linear electrooptic effect (e.g. Li 2 SO 4 .H 2 O, Li(HCOO).H 2 O) 1 followed by his doctoral thesis Quadratic electrostrictive effects in crystals 1 in 1975, both supervised by Prof. Haussühl. As a postdoctoral fellow he assisted Prof. Haussühl for a period of 6 years, and became a custodian at the adjacent and collaborating Mineralogisch-Petrographisches Institut of the University of Cologne. Although being an expert in the multitude of natural minerals Ladislav Bohaty turned his focus again to the physical properties of the crystalline state and their dependency on the atomic structure. He was and is interested in crystal chemical concepts, which lead to noncentrosymmetric crystals, in which the formation and spatial deconvolution of physical properties arises manifold. The prime condition to have a wide material base at one's disposal needs substantial capabilities in crystal growth, which have been established in the Institute for Crystallography over the years. In cooperation with Prof. Haussühl and Prof. Liebertz, both initiators and founders of the Gesellschaft für Kristallwachstum und Kristallzüchtung (DGKK), more than 100 different single crystal materials of all seven crystal systems have been grown from solution (evaporation technique), from melt (Czochralski technique), from melt ____________________ 1 Title translated into English