Great honor for Professor Bettina Hause. The head of the Research Group Jasmonate Function and Mycorrhiza was elected as a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences' Mathematical and Natural Sciences Class in March 2022. The tradition-steeped academic society only admits professors to its ranks who have made exceptional achievements and are considered experts of international reputation in their field. Being part of this academy and its interdisciplinary competence network is therefore a great honor.
The Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities was founded in 1751 by King George II of Great Britain as the Royal Society of Sciences and Humanities. As the oldest continuously existing community of scholars in Germany, it provided an excellent platform of intellectual exchange for some famous people, such as Carl Friedrich Gauss, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the Grimm and the Humboldt Brothers, and also Werner Heisenberg. Today, the Academy supports about 20 long-term projects in the field of humanities basic research. As one of the eight largest academic societies in Germany, it belongs to the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. The research work of the Göttingen scholars is regularly presented in lecture series, during the Academy Week and at lecture evenings in the Lower Saxony Parliament. The academy currently has over 350 members, including seven Nobel laureates.
Bettina Hause was proposed as a new member on the basis of her profound expertise in plant biochemistry and found worthy of admission. Her career and her commitment on many fields will certainly have cemented this decision. She studied biochemistry at the Martin Luther University in Halle an der Saale. After her dissertation in this discipline, she completed a second doctorate in agricultural sciences at the University of Wageningen (Netherlands). Since 1994, the mother of two sons has worked at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, since 1999 as head of her own research group. She habilitated in 2005 and was appointed Associate Professor at Martin Luther University in 2012.
Especially with her work on arbuscular mycorrhiza and on the working principle of jasmonates, Bettina Hause has also made a name for herself on the international stage. She has published nearly 200 scientific articles to date, some of them in high-ranking journals. In addition to her outstanding scientific achievements, her expertise in microscopy and cell biology is highly valued at the institute. As head of the imaging platform, she contributes significantly to training colleagues in essential microscopy techniques. She is an ombudsperson for Good Scientific Practice and demonstrates a strong commitment to the support of young scientists and a lively discourse at the institute. Her involvement in numerous events of Science Communication proves: Sharing knowledge with young people is important cause for her, even after work. "Being accepted into the academy fills me with joy and pride," says Professor Hause. "But it's also an incentive not to let up in my efforts to do challenging research and engage the younger generation in the process."
Her professional know-how, her joy in taking on responsibility and her multiple contributions will certainly be appreciated in Göttingen soon. We warmly congratulate her on her admission to the Academy!
