Dr. Gunter Buxbaum, born 1943 studied chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin and finished his PhD-Thesis in 1971 in the field of solid state chemistry. In 1973 he joined the research department for magnetic iron oxide pigment of Bayer AG. He headed the R&D-department for iron oxides for 20 years after which he implemented modern IP-Management in the chemicals department. The Otto-Bayer-Award, about 50 patents and many articles in handbooks and journals were the output of his scientific work. He also lectures inorganic pigment chemistry.

Dr. Gerhard Pfaff studied chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry 1983 from the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena in Germany. His postgraduate research was in the field of solid-state chemistry and ceramic materials at the University of Jena. In 1991, he joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, as a product development manager in the R&D department of the pigments division. Since 1994, he has there been the head of product development for effect pigments. In 1997, he received his habilitation in the field of inorganic chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he now also lectures. His interests include synthesis, structural investigation and application behavior of effect pigments and materials with advanced optical and electrical properties.