Martin Jansen, Professor Emeritus at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, was born on Pellworm – a small North Sea island off the north German coast – on November 5th, 1944. Soon he was obliged to leave the island and his family for the Secondary High School at Husum on mainland. In 1966, he started to study chemistry at the University of Gießen, where he obtained his diploma in chemistry, followed by PhD studies on "Oxomanganates and Oxocobaltates of the Alkaline Metals" under the supervision of Rudolf Hoppe. Having completed his doctoral thesis in 1973, he started his independent scientific career with a habilitation "A New Contribution to the Knowledge of Binary and Ternary Oxides" and received the venia legendi in inorganic chemistry in 1978. Soon after his habilitation, he was offered almost simultaneously a professorship at the Technical University of Karlsruhe and the University of Hannover – he chose the latter and became Full Professor in 1981. Only six years later (1987), TH Darmstadt as well as the University of Bonn offered a professorship, where he again chose the latter and moved to Bonn. While ETH Zurich, offering a position in 1988, could not convince him, the Max-Planck-Society was more successful, and Martin Jansen became Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, in 1998. After his regular retirement in 2012, Martin Jansen was still active as guest scientist until 2020 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden. Martin Jansen and his scientific work were honored by many awards, among them the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Award (1989), the Alfred-Stock Memorial Award (1996), the Karl-Ziegler Award (2007) or the Otto-Hahn Award (2019) as most outstanding examples. His work is highly recognized internationally, which is reflected, for instance, by an honorary membership of the Material Research Society of India, the distinguished lectureship at Texas A&M University, the Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry or the Georg-Wittig-Victor-Grignard Award of the Societé Chimique de France. Moreover, he received an honorary doctorate by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. In scientific terms, Martin Jansen is characterized by the diversity of synthesis strategies, the large number of compounds, the broad range from pure basic research to industrial application, as well as the breadth of methodology and the depth of experimental and theoretical penetration of his research. Martin Jansen has been particularly interested in "simple" binary or pseudo-binary compounds such as ozonides, silver oxides, halogen oxides or orthoanions throughout his entire scientific career. Synthetically, the O2 high-pressure syntheses of low-valence metal oxides, the synthesis of Fullerenes in the high-frequency furnace or the formation of, for instance, Na3N via atomic-beam deposition are perhaps particularly characteristic. Blue color pigments, cadmium-free red-to-yellow color pigments or amorphous Si–B–C–N high-temperature ceramics are examples of successful transfers to industry. The exploration of the nature of chemical bonding such as d10–d10 interactions or the prediction of the existence and structure of inorganic solids without presuppositions demonstrate his theoretically-oriented interest. Around 1400 publications are proof of his productivity and represent an enormous scientific legacy that will continue to inspire chemistry and materials science far beyond Martin Jansen's active career and encourage further research worldwide. One of his guiding principles was and is: "You have to reach for the stars if you want to reach the clouds". Scientifically, Martin Jansen not only reached many clouds but also stars. Besides his scientific achievements, Martin Jansen has been an inspiring academic teacher, mentor and advisor to many of his co-workers. Former PhD students Wolfgang Schnick (Munich), Nikolaus Korber (Regensburg), Barbara R. Albert (Duisburg-Essen), Anja-Verena Mudring (Aarhus), Pascal D. C. Dietzel (Bergen) and myself (Karlsruhe) have continued successful careers as professors themselves. Many former doctoral students are also working in different areas of industry and world-leading companies, surely also inspired by application-oriented projects and intensive cooperation between Martin Jansen and chemical industry. Although there is a clear trend to the south over Martin Jansen's carrier – starting on Pellworm via Gießen to Bonn and Stuttgart with only a short interplay in Hannover – he now prefers to stay with his family in the middle – the Rhine area of Bonn. Of course, he is still active and very interested in all facets of chemistry and good science, and he still is a critical observer with clear arguments who does not allow himself to be deceived by false promises. Together with his students, colleagues and friends, I wish him all the best, good health and continued pleasure with science on his 80th birthday, and I would like to conclude by quoting his words: "The better is always the enemy of the good", an advice that extends beyond optimizing material properties. Claus Feldmann The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Claus Feldmann

Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie

ZAAC is an international scientific journal which publishes original papers on new relevant research results from all areas of inorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, and co-ordination chemistry.

The contributions reflect the latest findings in these research areas and serve the development of new materials, such as super-hard materials, electrical superconductors, or intermetallic compounds. Up-to-date physical methods for the characterization of new chemical compounds and materials are also described.

The "Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie" is an international scientific journal that publishes original papers on new and relevant research findings from all areas of inorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, and coordination chemistry. The contributions reflect the latest discoveries in these research fields and contribute to the development of new materials, such as super-hard materials, electrical superconductors, and intermetallic compounds. Additionally, up-to-date physical methods for characterizing new chemical compounds and materials are also described.

《Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie》是一本国际科学期刊，专注于无机化学、固态化学和配位化学领域的原创研究论文。期刊发表的文章反映了这些研究领域的最新发现，并推动新材料的发展，例如超硬材料、电超导体或金属间化合物。此外，期刊还描述了用于表征新化合物和材料的最新物理方法。

Category	Quartile
化学	4
化学, 无机化学与核化学	4

Celebrating the 80^th birthday of Martin Jansen

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Category	Quartile
CHEMISTRY, INORGANIC & NUCLEAR	4

Celebrating the 80th birthday of Martin Jansen

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Celebrating the 80^th birthday of Martin Jansen