Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award for Innovations in the Computational Sciences

The prize honors and supports researchers advancing Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and Neuro-inspired Computing, all with the goal of enabling scientific discovery for the benefit of humanity.

About the Award

The founder of the chemical and pharmaceutical company E. Merck in Darmstadt, Heinrich Emanuel Merck (1794–1855), was not just a manufacturer and salesman but also deeply engaged in scientific research. The advanced scientific education he received was highly unusual for the time, reflecting his passion for innovation. In 1816, Heinrich Emanuel Merck took over the Engel Apotheke pharmacy in Darmstadt, which his family had owned since 1668. His groundbreaking experiments to isolate and characterize all of the known alkaloids led to the start of bulk production in 1827, a venture that met with immediate success. In his "Cabinet of pharmaceutical and chemical innovations," Heinrich Emanuel Merck presented 16 alkaloids for scientific experiments, which he shared with fellow experts and doctors. Heinrich Emanuel Merck earned a reputation among his customers for the exceptional purity of the alkaloids he sold.

This spirit of scientific curiosity and innovation inspired the establishment of the Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award. First awarded in 1988, the prize celebrated excellence in analytical chemistry, honoring scientists who developed new analytical methods in chemistry. Since 2025, the award has shifted focus to recognize innovations in computational sciences, reflecting the transformative impact of these fields. The prize now honors and supports researchers advancing Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and Neuro-inspired Computing, all with the goal of enabling scientific discovery for the benefit of humanity. The award includes a fund of 15,000 euros to encourage these groundbreaking efforts.

 

Key Facts

  • The award is presented every two years. The deadline for applications for the 2024 award was 7 October 2024.
  • Eligibility criteria: Researchers who are developing innovative solution in domains at the forefront of innovation in computing: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, neuro-inspired computing - all with the aim to enable scientific discovery
  • Who can apply: Researchers that fit the eligibility criteria. Healthcare Professionals are ineligible for this award. 
  • Application documents: Applicants need to fill out an application at our application portal (www.researchgrantsandchallenges.com). Documents include a recent CV and a description of cutting edge research and results (no older than 3 years)
  • Award ceremony: The recipients of the Heinrich Emanuel Merck award are asked to present their research at an award ceremony. 
  • The award comes with a 15,000 EUR prize. 

History of the award

The Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award for the Analytical Sciences was conceived in 1988 to recognize research in the analytical sciences. The final award in analytical sciences was awarded in 2022.

Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award for Analytical Sciences (1988-2022)

Year Name University/company Country Distinguished project
2022 Dr. Valérie Gabelica Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (Univ. Bordeaux, INSERM & CNRS) France Advancing mass spectrometry to study nucleic acid structures and interactions
2019 Prof. David Alsteens UC Louvain Belgium Probing ligand binding to native membrane receptors in physiologically relevant conditions using AFM
2017 Prof. Francesco Ricci University of Rome Italy DNA-Based Beacon for Single-Step Fluorescence Detection of Proteins
2015 Prof. Petra Dittrich ETH Zürich Switzerland Microfluidic analytical platforms
2012 Prof. Aaron R. Wheeler University of Toronto Canada

Droplet-scale estrogen assays in breast tissue

2010 Prof. Luisa Torsi Bari University Italy Organic sensitivity-enhanced field-effect sensors for determination of chiral compounds
2007 Dr. Alexander Makarov Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bremen Germany Performance evaluation of a hybrid linear ion trap/orbitrap mass spectrometer
2007 Prof. Dr. Shuming Nie Emory University, Atlanta USA In vivo cancer targeting and imaging with semiconductor quantum dots
2004 Prof. Yoshinobu Baba University of Tokushima Japan Nanospheres for DNA separation chips
2002 Prof. Jonathan V. Sweedler University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign USA Measuring the peptides in individual organelles with mass spectrometry
2000 Prof. Norman Dovichi

University of Alberta

Canada

A multiple-capillary electrophoresis system for small-scale DNA sequencing and analysis
1998 Prof. Renato Zenobi ETH Zurich Switzerland Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
1996 Prof. D. Jed Harrison University of Alberta Canada Micromachining a miniaturized capillary electrophore-based chemical analysis system on a chip
1996 Prof. Andreas Manz Imperial College London Great Britain Micromachining a miniaturized capillary electrophore-based chemical analysis system on a chip
1993 Prof. Aviv Amirav Tel Aviv University Israel Pulsed-flame photometer : a novel gas chromatography detector
1990

Dr. Scott  Bidlingmeyer

Millipore Corporation USA Liquid chromatography detectors
1990 Prof. Reinhard Nießner Technical University of Munich Germany The photoelectric aerosol sensor array applied to heavy metal aerosols
1988 Prof. Masataka Hiraide Nagoya University Japan Separation of trace elements from high-purity metals
1988 Prof. Otto S. Wolfbeis Graz University Austria Fluorescence sensors

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