Siegfried Haussuhl, born in 1927, studied physics and chemistry at the University of Tubingen, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in 1956. He subsequently became assistant lecturer at the same Institute, where he also qualified as a professor. In 1959, he was appointed to a professorship in crystallography at the University of Freiburg, and after five years changed to a similar position at the University of Cologne. Here, he became the Director of the institute and kept this appointment until 1993. Professor Haussuhl was awarded the Ernst Abbe prize of the German Mineralogical Society and the Carl Hermann Medal of the German Crystallographic Society. He has published more than 270 refereed papers and is co-founder resp. founder of such prominent societies as the German Society of Crystallography (DGK) and the German Association for Crystal Growth (DGKK). He was chief editor of the journal Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie and Editorial Board member of various other scientific journals such as Crystal Research and Technology.