International Graduate School of Neuroscience
In Memoriam Dr. mult. Hanns Hatt
It was with great sorrow that the neuroscience community of Ruhr University Bochum learned of the passing of Dr. mult. Hanns Hatt on April 20, 2026.
Professor Hatt became Head of the Department of Cell Physiology at the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at Ruhr University Bochum in 1992, retiring in 2022. He was internationally recognised and admired for his extraordinary contributions to the research field of chemosensory and olfactory neurobiology. He was an extraordinary academic, having first obtained a primary degree in Biology and Chemistry, followed by completion of a medical degree, followed by a doctoral degree in natural sciences and a medical doctorate. His research achievements were acknowledgement by many awards and accolades, including election to the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences in 2012. He was intensely committed to fostering the career of young scientists and the structuring of research excellence at RUB and served both as Dean as well as Speaker of the International Graduate School Biosciences, of his Faculty. He was also a member of the International Graduate School of Neuroscience (IGSN) of Ruhr University Bochum from the moment of its inception in 2001. He was a PI in the SFB 509 “Neuronal Mechanisms of Vision” that commenced in 1996 and a PI in the SFB 874 “Integration and Representation of Sensory Information Processing” that began in 2010.
Hanns Hatt was a brilliant national and global ambassador of sensory neuroscience, with highly influential outreach, and received among numerous prizes, the prestigious Communicator award of the DFG (German Research Foundation) in 2010. His work comprised groundbreaking discoveries in basic research with regard to the structure and function of olfactory receptor proteins, as well as invaluable translational research on olfactory receptors in various organs and cells outside the olfactory system, such as the skin, testes and prostate, and notably also in human prostate cancer cells.
He worked tirelessly for academic and research excellence in Germany, serving as President of the Academy of Sciences of Northrhine Westphalia from 2010-2015 and later, as President of the Union of German Academies of Sciences from 2015-2022. He was a major orchestrator of neuroscience excellence at Ruhr University Bochum, for which we will be always grateful. He will be sadly missed by all of his colleagues at the IGSN and Science Hub Neuroscience. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Composed by Prof Dr. Denise Manahan-Vaughan and Prof Dr. Ulf Eysel, April 29th 2026.